AstraZeneca denies the charge and says the allegation of ghostwriting is untrue.

FORBES

At the end of the day, the responsibility for the ghostwriting issue rests with the doctors and scientists that put their name on the by line (and cash the checks).

FORBES: Are Drug Industry Critics Trying To Bolster Their Own Image?

AstraZeneca's spokesperson says that while it does not support ghostwriting of papers, it does believe that it's proper for doctors to enlist medical writers to help them with their manuscripts.

FORBES: Pharma's Ghosts

To the extent that ghostwriting is a significant issue, the responsibility to address it lies with the docs and scientists who put their names on the by lines and the professional societies charged with their regulation.

FORBES: Are Drug Industry Critics Trying To Bolster Their Own Image?

Marcia Angell, a lecturer at Harvard University, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and author of The Truth About Drug Companies, wrote in an e-mail that ghostwriting practices are "evidently very common" in medicine.

FORBES: Pharma's Ghosts

She says ghostwriting practices are commonplace.

FORBES: Pharma's Ghosts

She wasn't somebody who could stand up and, say, like a Paul Robeson, make a whole sort of statement, but she could sing this song, and apparently, according to letters from--that I read of William Dufty, the ghostwriting journalist who wrote "The Lady Sings the Blues, " the FBI and other peoples actually said if she stopped singing this song they would give her an easier ride.

NPR: 'With Billie': A Jazz Great, As Others Saw Her