Doc Accused of Faking Celebrex Study

more examples of the lies

"...no patients were actually enrolled in the study..." "...he had been
inventing data for as many as 13 years."



(
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/l...wsletter-Daily )



Doc Accused of Faking Celebrex Study



Alleged fake Celebrex study lands doc in court



By KRISTIE BORGES



Updated 1:45 PM EST, Fri, Jan 15, 2010


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A Massachusetts doc, who is also a former member of Pfizer Inc.'s speakers'
bureau, is accused of launching what is being called "one of the biggest
research frauds in medical history," according to The Day of New London.
And he has agreed to plead guilty, according to a Massachusetts newspaper.

Dr. Scott Reuben, who is accused of faking medical research studies,
including some that were published in medical journals, was charged with
health care fraud Thursday in federal court in Boston, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice.

He's accused of accepting a $75,000 grant from Pfizer to research the
effectiveness of the pain medication Celebrex for a 2005 study, the Day
reports.

His research, which the Day reports was pioneering at the the time,
indicated that there are post-surgery benefits from painkillers. But no
patients were actually enrolled in the study, according to a U.S. Department
of Justice news release.
The Wall Street Journal reports that he also falsified information about
Pfizer's Bextra and on Merck's Vioxx.

"Anesthesia & Analgesia" had to retract 10 papers Reuben wrote and medical
experts say at least 21 journal articles by the anesthesiologist appear to
be fabricated, the Day reports.

Reuben was the chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center in
Springfield, Massachusetts, and The Day reports that the hospital let him go
last March, after an audit revealed he had been inventing data for as many
as 13 years.

Reuben has reached an agreement in which he will plead guilty and
prosecutors will recommend a more lenient sentence, the Wall Street Journal.

He would also have to forfeit assets of at least $50,000 he got from
allegedly fake research, the Journal reports.

The Republican, of Springfield, Massachusetts, reports that Reuben has
signed a plea agreement and must return $420,000 to pharmaceutical
companies.


Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut