According to the documents uncovered during the trial, Merck allegedly paid the publisher Elsevier to print nine fake academic journals, including one called the Australiasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine. Although articles in the fake journals were written by employees of Merck, they were designed to look like real medical journals.

In January 2009, the New England Journal of Medicine published studies which link Fosamax to side effects including osteonecrosis of the jaw, or jaw death, and esophageal cancer. Vioxx was recalled by Merck in September 2004 after it was linked to an increased risk of side effects including heart attack, stroke and congestive heart failure.

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen reviewed two issues of the Australiasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine and found that there were few indications that the publication was connected to Merck. "To the jaundiced eye, (the journal) might be detected for what it is: marketing," the group’s deputy director, Peter Lurie. "Many doctors would fail to identify that and might be influenced by what they read."