Well there's some noise like in everything else in life, but I don't think there's any empty studies (okay there's even a few cases of lying which is sad beyond words but thankfully they are very few i think).

Why does this noise bother you? Besides, keep in mind that the grant-chasing doesn't happen because of greed, it happens because people want to continue doing science and that's the only way to maintain an active lab.

I could shit on the state of academic publishing for days, but at the end of the day, there is an overall positive direction in this 'academic endeavor': the creation of knowledge.

I find this direction much lighter on my consciousness than "generate value for the shareholders"