JAMA: Dysfunction Study Authors Paid by Pfizer

      The American Medical Association admitted yesterday that its journal failed to disclose that Viagra manufacturer Pfizer Inc. had paid the authors of a study that found a large number of American men and women experience problems with sexual function. The AP/Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports that Pfizer paid study authors Raymond Rosen and the University of Chicago's Edward Laumann to review data from clinical trials of Viagra before applying for FDA approval. "It was an oversight on the part of JAMA, said AMA spokesperson Scot Roskelley. "The authors did disclose it, [and] the person who was looking at it just didn't catch it," he added. JAMA editor Phil Fontanarosa "said the connection would be noted in a subsequent issue." Laumann said the study "gives us a base for explaining why we had this enormous response to Viagra" (2/11).