Doc Accused of Faking Celebrex Study

[Guest guest]

thanks Winnie

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/local-beat/Fake-Study-Lands-Doctor-in-Hot-Water-81727667.html?__source=Newsletter-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

Getty Images

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.

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

First Published: Jan 15, 2010 12:13 PM EST