GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) is conducting an internal investigation whether a scientific paper co-authored three years ago by scientists at its R&D Center in Shanghai, China, contained fabricated data.
Pharmaceutical industry news website Pharmalot, citing unnamed sources, reports that GSK has placed at least one employee at the R&D center on temporary leave during the investigation. The paper appeared in Nature Medicine and carried the name of several GSK employees, Pharmalot said. The paper examined the role of a protein called Interleukin-7 receptor in treating autoimmune diseases.
The GSK investigation came to light this past weekend after hitting China’s blogosphere. That prompted an internal memo from top GSK scientists in China: John Elliott, vice president of chemistry at the R&D Center in China; Min Irwin, vice president of medicine development and Marina Zvartu-Hind, head of neuroscience development.
“We can acknowledge that we are carrying out an internal investigation into alleged issues related to a scientific paper,” they wrote in the memo,obtained by Pharmalot. “As you know, we take such matters very seriously – the integrity of our research is critical to our work and we are doing whatever is required to investigate these matters fully.”
A GSK spokeswoman acknowledged the inquiry, telling Pharmalot: “We are carrying out an internal investigation into some alleged issues related to a scientific paper but I don’t have further details at the moment – and it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment on particular aspects of an investigation while it is ongoing. The integrity of our research is critical to our work and we are giving this our full attention.”
Separately, a spokeswoman for Nature, which also publishes Nature Medicine and other journals, told Pharmalot: “It’s our policy not to comment on any paper that may or may not be retracted.” She added that, in general, any retraction that does occur will be posted on its web site and visible to the public, since such notices are not kept behind a pay wall.
Pharmalot said the GSK inquiry is the second in recent weeks regarding published studies that involved employees of a global drugmaker. Novartis recently admitted that two of its employees in Japan had varying levels of involvement in clinical trials for its Diovan heart drug. Those trials were were supposed to have been independent.
