Fabricated pain studies

[PMR2008]

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Humnnn.. I wonder how often this is happening.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123672510903888207.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

Probably happens more than we would like to admit. When Pharma money is coming your way, and the more positive you are towards them, the more they use and pay you, temptation leads to sin. You can make the data say anything you want. There are hundreds of ways to manipulate or "massage" data.

But to outright fabricate data, to me, is the ultimate breach of research ethics, and warrants discrediting and censuring someone for the rest of their career.

I would suspect something more than a "routine audit" led to this.

 

[2006MD]

I've heard of lies, damn lies, and statistics...but I can't believe what I read:

"Anesthesiologist admits to fabricating data in pain studies.
The New York Times (3/11, A22, Harris) reports, "In what may be among the longest-running and widest-ranging cases of academic fraud, one of the most prolific researchers in anesthesiology has admitted that he fabricated much of the data underlying his research, said a spokeswoman for the hospital where he works." Jane Albert, a spokeswoman for Baystate Medical Center, stated that Dr. Scott S. Reuben "never conducted the clinical trials that he wrote about in 21 journal articles dating from at least 1996." Now, "the common practice -- supported by his studies -- of giving patients aspirin-like drugs and neuropathic pain medicines after surgery instead of narcotics is...being questioned."
"The hospital has asked the medical journals to retract the 21 studies, some of which reported favorable results from the use of painkillers like Pfizer Inc.'s Bextra [valdecoxib] and Merck & Co.'s Vioxx [rofecoxib] -- both since withdrawn -- as well as Pfizer's Celebrex [celecoxib] and Lyrica [pregabalin]," the Wall Street Journal (3/11, Winstein, Armstrong) notes. Dr. Reuben "also claimed positive findings for Wyeth's antidepressant Effexor XR [venlafaxine] as a pain killer," and he urged the Food and Drug Administration "not to restrict the use of many of the painkillers he studied, citing his own data on their safety and effectiveness." According to Hal Jenson, the chief academic officer at Baystate Medical, "a routine audit last spring flagged discrepancies in Dr. Reuben's work," which "led to a larger investigation in which Dr. Reuben cooperated."
The Boston Globe (3/11, Kowalczyk) adds that "in many cases "there was no clinical trial, because there were no patients," Jenson pointed out. Dr. Reuben's attorney, Ingrid Martin, stated that he "deeply regrets that all of this happened, and with the committee's guidance is taking steps to make sure it never happens again." The investigation concluded that "other researchers did not know about or participate in the alleged fabrications," although Dr. Reuben "often co-wrote papers with other researchers." The Boston Globe (3/10, Kowalczyk) White Coat Notes blog also covered the story."

 

[Ludicolo]

This is bad, sad, maddening on so many different levels.

Shows that the external financial and internal academic pressures to produce and publish can be huge. But to have no professional integrity or personal ethics, to falsify data, and for none of his other co-workers or funding sources to recognize this? Insane.

Many institutions, not just his, had been using his results in establishing post-op multimodal analgesic protocols. Because he was so prolific, it lent an air of credence and respectability to his work. The trickle-down effect of this news may prove to be staggering. And while the pharma companies didn’t appear to be involved, they will be subject to guilt by association, casting doubt on the efficacy of any of the agents used in his studies, including things like celecoxib or pregabalin. The erosion of public trust in scientists and physicians continues...

Kinda puts a different spin on “evidence-based medicine”, doesn’t it?