Investigative Group

Hospital Researchers Got Fed Funds Using Fake Stem Cell Data

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A Massachusetts hospital agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that its researchers used fake stem cell data to obtain National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, according to the Department of Justice.

A Brigham and Women’s Hospital stem cell research laboratory “included false scientific information in claims to NIH in order to obtain and use funds from NIH grants” for research concerning stem cells’ ability to repair heart damage,  a Justice Department statement said. (RELATED: Feds Won’t ‘Speculate’ About How Many Taxpayer-Funded Scientists Fake Data)

The government alleged that the lab used “reckless or deliberately misleading record-keeping,” fabricated data and images in its applications and publications, and included “invalid and inaccurately characterized cardiac stem cells,” the statement said. (RELATED: Feds Spend Tax Dollars To Discover Frat Brothers Like Alcohol, Girls Like Dolls, And Sharks Are Scary)

“Individuals and institutions that receive research funding from NIH have an obligation to conduct their research honestly and not to alter results to conform with unproven hypotheses,” Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb said in a statement. “Medical research fraud not only wastes scarce government resources but also undermines the scientific process and the search for better treatments for serious diseases.”

The lab investigated the research misconduct allegations and self-reported them to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General and cooperated with investigators.

Three doctors – lab chief Piero Anversa, Annarosa Leri and Jan Kajstura – “should have known” their lab used manipulated and falsified information and “are not longer affiliated” with the facility, the statement said.

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