QRTI Newsline --- Wednesday September 8, 2010

Study data may be fake

Thursday, March 12, 2009
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Associated Press

A Massachusetts anesthesiologist has been accused of faking data for a dozen years in 21 published studies that suggested after-surgery benefits from painkillers including Vioxx and Celebrex.

Scott Reuben, who is on leave from Springfield’s Baystate Medical Center, studied the use of several drugs to relieve pain and speed recovery after surgery.

The hospital said a routine review in May found that some of Reuben’s research was not approved by an internal hospital review board. Further investigation found 21 papers published in anesthesiology journals between 1996 and 2008 in which Reuben made up some or all data. Hospital officials said Reuben did not admit to the fabrications. The doctor couldn’t be reached for comment.

The hospital asked the journals to retract the studies, some of which reported favorable results from painkillers including Pfizer’s Bextra, Celebrex and Lyrica and Merck’s Vioxx. His studies also claimed Wyeth’s antidepressant Effexor could be used as a painkiller.

Pfizer gave Reuben five research grants between 2002 and 2007. He also was a member of the company’s speakers bureau, giving talks about Pfizer drugs to colleagues.

Pfizer said in a statement it was “not involved in the conduct of any of these independent studies or in the interpretation or publication of the study results.&rdquo

The investigation was first reported by the trade publication, Anesthesiology News.

The journal Anesthesia & Analgesia retracted 10 of Reuben’s studies last month. The journal Anesthesiology said it retracted three.

“Doctors have been using (his) findings very widely,” said Steven Shafer, editor of Anesthesia and Analgesia. “His findings had a huge impact on the field.”

Shafer said researchers would re-examine the literature and may be forced to repeat clinical trials.

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