Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Springfield, Massachusetts, Baystate Medical Center is accusing one of its prominent anesthesiologists of providing fictitious data about the after-surgery benefits from painkillers like Vioxx and Celebrex.

Scott S. Reuben, the hospital’s former chief of acute pain, conducted research on several painkillers that were published in various anesthesiology journals between 1996 and 2008. Those studies, which provided encouraging information about the combined use of painkillers like Celebrex and Lyrica for patients undergoing procedures such as knee and hip replacements, were highly regarded by other physicians.

During a routine review last May, the hospital found that some of Reuben’s research was not approved by an internal hospital review board and that some or all of the data published in the medical journals was fictitious. Data included favorable results of the use of Bextra, Celebrex and Lyrica, made by Pfizer Inc., and Vioxx, made by Merck & Co. Inc. Reuben’s research also touted the benefits of Wyeth’s antidepressant Effexor XR as a painkiller.

He also reportedly asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not to restrict the use of many of the painkillers he studied, citing his own data on those drugs’ safety and effectiveness.

In 2004, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory warning that painkillers classified as Cox-2 selective agents, such as Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra, may be associated with an increased risk of serious cardiovascular events especially when used over a long period of time or in a very high risk setting, such as immediately after heart surgery. The agency said this week it wasn’t aware of the matter involving Reuben.

Baystate Medical Center has asked the medical journals to retract the 21 studies authored by Reuben. To date, the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia said it retracted 10 of Reuben’s studies and the journal Anesthesiology said it retracted three.

Reuben received five research grants from Pfizer over a five-year period and was a member of the drug company’s speaker’s bureau. He is currently on leave from the hospital.

Sources:
Wall Street Journal
Associated Press

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