Doc Pleads Guilty In Pfizer Fraud Case

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

It is very easy to commit this type of fraud and surely it was enabled or encouraged.


Doc Pleads Guilty In Pfizer Fraud Case
By Ed Silverman // February 23rd, 2010 //

Scott Reuben, who was accused of faking research for a dozen years in published studies that suggested after-surgery benefits from Vioxx and Celebrex, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of federal health care fraud. The 51-year-old anesthesiologist will have to repay $361,932 in research grants and forfeit assets worth at least $50,000 as penalty, the Associated Press reports.

Prosecutors alleged the former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center received grants from various drugmakers but never performed the studies, fabricated patient data and submitted info to anesthesiology journals that was unwittingly published. Later, an investigation found 21 papers published in journals between 1996 and 2008 in which Reuben made up some or all of the data (background here and here).

The hospital asked the journals to retract the studies, some of which reported favorable results for Pfizer’s Bextra, Celebrex and Lyrica, and Merck’s Vioxx. The studies also claimed Wyeth’s antidepressant Effexor could be used as a painkiller. Reuben faces up to 10 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Reuben’s attorneys say he suffered from biopolar disorder that was only accurately diagnosed in 2008, and he had no financial motive. “His alternating periods of mania and depression fueled his misconduct and adversely affected his ability to halt his wrongful behaviors in the area of research,” they said. Hmm…imagine if he had doctored Abilify data?


http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/02/doc-pleads-guilty-in-pfizer-fraud-case/

[asjr]

1. Wow! That is some plea argument!