NEWS - Top pain scientist fabricated data in studies, hospital says

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Top Pain Scientist Fabricated Data in Studies, Hospital Says

By KEITH J. WINSTEIN and DAVID ARMSTRONG

11 Mar 2009

Wall Street Journal

A prominent Massachusetts anesthesiologist allegedly fabricated 21

medical studies that claimed to show benefits from painkillers like

Vioxx and Celebrex, according to the hospital where he worked.

Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass., said that its former

chief of acute pain, S. Reuben, had faked data used in the

studies, which were published in several anesthesiology journals

between 1996 and 2008.

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 and Merck & Co.'s Vioxx -- both since

withdrawn -- as well as Pfizer's Celebrex and Lyrica. Dr. Reuben's

research work also claimed positive findings for Wyeth's

antidepressant Effexor XR as a pain killer. And he wrote to the Food

and Drug Administration, urging the agency not to restrict the use of

many of the painkillers he studied, citing his own data on their

safety and effectiveness.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123672510903888207.html

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