The Division’s decision sets a bad precedent.  The subjects covered in the State Museum were selected by historians who gave them serious consideration. While the decision of those historians not to focus on Mylan apparently “dismayed” Mylan’s President and Governor Joe Manchin’s daughter Heather Bresch, it is perfectly understandable. Mylan’s history extends only several decades, and it is not representative of a larger West Virginia industry.

If the State Museum is to be accepted as a credible West Virginia history storyteller, it cannot sell its story-telling space.

A former employer of mine likes to say: “You should never go to war with anyone who buys ink by the barrel.”  Sometimes people don’t take this sage advice or my advice about avoiding a death of a thousand cuts very seriously:

Mylan Inc. files suit again the Post-Gazette.

Mylan is suing the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over a series of stories concerning alleged drug safety violations at its Morgantown facility.  The article suggests that Mylan’s lawyers are making some fairly novel legal claims because a straightforward case of libel would be so difficult to make.  Lawyers have tried many novel legal theories to get around libel legal standards over the years, generally with little success.

Well, at least the lawyers will get rich.

Two weeks ago the New York Times published an article suggesting that drug-related research conflicts of interest may be fairly common.  And again it was litigation – this time against Wyeth for selling Premarin and PremPro, two hormone replacement treatments for women – that uncovered the conflict.  In 2002 a federal study of hormone replacement therapy was stopped after researchers discovered that the hormones increased risks for breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.  The year previous to the federal study Wyeth made $2 billion from the sale of those drugs.  To aid sales, Wyeth apparently was arranging to have ghost-written articles produced singing the praises of these treatments.  In all 26 such scientific papers appeared in 18 medical journals with no disclosure.  The amount of editing done by the “authors” of these articles varied from substantial to minimal.

How widespread is the problem?  A New York Times article published this week says: “Recent revelations suggest that the practice is widespread.  Dozens of medical education companies across the country draft scientific papers at the behest of drug makers.  And placing such papers in medical journals has become a fundamental marketing practice for most of the large pharmaceutical companies.”

A student caught doing the same thing would face serious punishment up to and including expulsion from a school with an honor code.  What will happen to these authors?  According to Dr. Carl Elliott with the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, they “never seem to be punished at all.”

If Senator Charles Grassley has his way, that will change.  He sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health last week urging them to crack down on the practice.  If NIH would punish institutions that fail to address such practices by denying them grants, this practice would stop very quickly.

• Former House Education Committee Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta got into trouble for his role in the distribution of a grant.  He is receiving $192,000.
• Mylan Chief Operating Officer Heather Bresch got into trouble for claiming a master’s degree from WVU.  She has been promoted to President.

It is good to see people who have struggled doing so well.

The Morgantown Dominion-Post thus far has remained silent concerning the developing story in its own back door.  The Charleston Gazette has assigned reporter Eric Eyre to cover it.