US Doctor Accused of Fraud by Faking Research
From Associated Press (January 15, 2010)
BOSTON_Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that they have filed
a health care fraud charge against a doctor accused of faking
research for a dozen years in published studies that suggested
after-surgery benefits from painkillers including Vioxx and
Celebrex.
Court documents indicate that Dr. Scott Reuben, an
anesthesiologist, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for
prosecutors recommending a more lenient sentence of up to 10 years
imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and forfeiture of assets worth at
least $50,000 that Reuben received for the research.
Prosecutors allege the former chief of acute pain at Baystate
Medical Center in Springfield sought and received research grants
from pharmaceutical companies but never performed the studies. He
fabricated patient data and submitted information to anesthesiology
journals that unwittingly published it, court documents
allege.
Reuben, a Longmeadow resident, took leave after the hospital said
last year that a routine review found that some of his 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, the
hospital said. Hospital officials said Reuben did not admit to the
fabrications.
The hospital asked the journals to retract the studies, some of
which reported favorable results from painkillers including Pfizer
Inc.'s Bextra, Celebrex and Lyrica and Merck & Co. Inc.'s
Vioxx. His studies also claimed Wyeth's antidepressant Effexor
could be used as a painkiller.
Vioxx and Bextra _ among a class of painkillers known as Cox-2
inhibitors _ were pulled from the market amid mounting evidence
they raised the risk of heart attack, stroke and death. Celebrex is
still on the market. Lyrica is a treatment for fibromyalgia.
Reuben's attorney said last year that his client cooperated with
the hospital review and expressed regret. The lawyer did not
immediately return a call for comment Thursday on the federal
complaint.
A telephone listing for Reuben could not be found.
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. The company has said it was not
involved in the conduct of Reuben's studies or in the
interpretation or publication of the results.
The investigation was first reported by the trade publication,
Anesthesiology News.
The journal Anesthesia & Analgesia retracted 10 of Reuben's
studies last February. The journal Anesthesiology said last year
that it retracted three.
Posted: January 2010
