Medical journals have been asked to retract 21 studies that touted the benefits of Vioxx, Celebrex and other drugs. According to The Wall Street Journal, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass. is asking the journals to make the retractions because its former chief of acute pain, Dr. Scott S. Reuben, had faked data used in the studies.
In addition to Vioxx and Celebrex, some of the 21 studies involved the fibromyalgia drug Lyrica and the antidepressant Effexor XR. Reuben’s study claimed to show that these drug worked well as painkillers, the Journal said. All of the studies were published between 1996 and 2008.
According to The Wall Street Journal, these studies had a great deal of influence on the practice of medicine. Because of Reuben’s “research”, it had become routine for doctors to combine the use of painkillers like Celebrex and Lyrica for patients undergoing common procedures such as knee and hip replacements, the Journal said.
Reuben even had the ear of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and had written the agency asking it not to restrict the use of many of the painkillers he studied. He often cited his fake data to make his case, the Journal said.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Reuben’s fraud has caused the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia to retract 10 studies. It also posted a list of 11 others that were published in other journals on its Web site. The journal Anesthesiology said it has retracted three of Reuben’s articles.
Not surprisingly, Reuben has strong ties with the pharmaceutical industry. According to the Journal, he had been a paid speaker on behalf of Pfizer – the maker of Lyrica and Celebrex – and it paid for some of his research.
Baystate Medical Center has placed Reuben on indefinite leave. He has also vacated an appointment as a professor at Tufts University’s medical school, the Journal said.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this scandal is that many of the drugs Reuben researched have been linked to serious side effects. Like many antidepressants, the labeling of Effexor warns that it has been linked to suicides in young people and children.
Both Celebrex and Vioxx have been linked to heart attacks and strokes, and Vioxx was actually recalled in 2006 because of these problems.
This is actually not the first time the integrity of studies involving Vioxx have come into question. Last April, we reported that an analysis of court documents uncovered in the course of Vioxx injury lawsuits found that Merck & Co. employees worked alone or with publishing companies to write Vioxx study manuscripts and later recruited academic medical experts to put their names as first authors on the studies. According to the analysis, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Merck’s involvement in producing the data wasn’t disclosed in many cases.
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April 20th, 2009 at 5:41 am
This is why big pharma, the FDA and doctors should not be trusted. They govern themselves. You people are heartless, shameless and should be given your own poison instead of allowed to PRACTICE on the public like we are your lab rats. Look at how you have fouled up even the water with the leftovers from your chemicals. You suck!
May 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I couldn’t have stated it better then that Virginia. They are poisoning us. Our water supply and our bodies with their experimentations on an unsuspecting public. I am a believer in they should be given a taste of their own medicine. Rat Style. Quadruple dope them up and send them down the river like the lying rats they are.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
They should be give a taste of their own medicine, however, false claims were also filed and paid from people who lied about taking the medicine. The attorneys made out. Why didn’t the government investigate all claims. Dirty money.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:12 am
I really hope Mr. Reuben slides under a gas truck and chokes on his own blood and, takes the S.O.B.s at Merck with him
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
I really hope Mr. Reuben slides under a gas truck and chokes on his own blood and, takes the S.O.B.s at Merck with him. I was one of the people who had a heart-attack while taking Vioxx and could not get in to the settlement program with Merck. I missed their deadline by days because I could not find an attorney,so for all my medical bills and all my medication bills I get nothing, but Mr. Reuben did ! Great system we have. Big pharma wins again!
October 4th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I used Lyrica about 18 months ago. I am losing my sight. It has caused so much damage that I see straight lines as bowed, peripheral vision is almost none, and the optic nerves are thinning at an alarming rate. I can no longer read as the letters are 3-D and look like designs and shapes. My ayes are in continual pain, and the blurred vision is just a small part of the damage done by this drug. My physicians as well as my eye doctors agree that Lyrica is the reason.
The Pfizer Company knew since 2005 that they were being sued over the false advertisement of these drugs. Yet, they continued to market them.(USA Today, Pfizer Co. pays 2.3 Billion in criminal charges alone…..)they even had an account set up last year for the 2.3 billion they would have to pay this year.
Unbelievable!
October 17th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
My question is if this reseacher faked the study for lyrica and other medications and consumers that took lyrica and were injured by this drug,can we be included in a classaction lawsuit for damages? since we were not told the truth and serious side effects they caused. i took lyrica for two years and the side effects are serious like swelling in my hands and feet among other injuries.We should get compensated for not knowing the truth.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:21 am
My husband took Vioxx off and on from 1999 through October 2004. Had a massive heart attack Oct. 28, 2004. Triple bypass surgery that following Monday. Saw the doctor same day to have fluid drawn from right knee. Doctor sent him to hospital for ultrasound, stat, that evening. Doctor was flying out of town at 5PM. Never received test results. No time to waste. Two hours after ultrasound on his knee, I rushed him back to the hospital with a massive MI. All day his breath was terrible, had a strange color to his skin and his clothing was soaking wet from perspiration. The bad breath should have raised a red flag for someone in the medical field. Something was wrong and I knew it. He took Vioxx for over three weeks prior to his MI. He did not take a Vioxx that Thursday. We (I) put all his samples into an empty Vioxx bottle, each time they were given, for convenience. Some doctors do not keep good records on samples given. Vioxx was too expensive and the samples cost nothing (at the time). He had several scripts and several samples over the years. I used to say “Thank God you still have some pills”. There are still many pills left. We followed the rules requested by our attorney…nothing. We appealed…to no avail. I saw my husband take the Vioxx pills, but my word is not good enough for the settlement. Understandable. I am a bit perplexed over my husband’s medical records. All of his records prior to the MI were destroyed. I have a copy of every page dating back to Oct. 28, 2004. The ‘buck stops there’. Oh, well. If we need information on past ER visits, and etc. What to do? Strange, too, that all medications listed for him excludes Vioxx in his hospital file. They ask and I accommodated. I have read those medical records many times…the Vioxx is just not there. I have been to the TOP to find the heart surgeon’s whereabouts and his office records…again everyone dumbs out. We have had little or no cooperation nor helpful words from anyone regarding his Vioxx use. On another note, all but two pharmacies did away with information on his prescriptions. We used any pharmacy open at the time. Two of them large chain stores. For what it is worth, the charge nurse does remember my request that no Vioxx or Celebrex be given to my husband. Celebrex is mentioned in the nurse’s notes, but no Vioxx. Hmmm! The nurse remembers because we know each other from earlier years. At least we have one person willing to step up to the plate. I do not remember the nurse that took down the request, but it should have ‘charted’. I do know we were disappointed there was no good news for us from our attorney. I have never been naive, but I though this would be different somehow. Surely one of the chemistry findings during testing prior to the triple bypass will tell the tale. Surely there is some way to prove Vioxx was in his system when he had his MI. The proximity gate worked its’ magic…as intended. That was the only gate not passed. I just wonder who out there is spending what could have been his portion of the settlement. lol. Really though, I am happy for all who passed all the gates and sad for all who did not. Mr. Boden, we know how upset you are. We truly do understand. Sometimes the hand we are dealt makes it seem as though the deck is stacked against us. We are going to let a jury decide our plight if at all possible. Seems that is the only way to prove we are just as deserving. Of course there are some who think “Vioxx should still be on the market” (that comment was from a pharmacist). Those are the lucky few who had no problems from ingesting the harmful drug, and have not been through a living hell trying to deal with it’s devastating path of destruction. Katrina was bad, but at least we saw it coming and could prepare for what might be. With all we have been through, this is like living in a nightmare hoping to wake and find that it really was just a nightmare. My husband was a healthy man with no B/P problems, heart condition, and nothing in his family history to contribute to a heart attack. He was an active man and now tries to stay as active as life allows. wish the very best to those still trying to stay afloat. Sorry this was so long but I needed to vent somehow. Thanks for being patient. I almost lost my husband of forty-five years. So when I say ‘we’, I to have been through all the emotional and mental stuff, and etc. Yes, ‘we’ have gone through this together and it has just about taken a toll on us. For some, it is over and done. Congrats!! For those in our shoes, good luck to you.