Ortho Evra
July 9, 2005Once-disgraced doctor now heads research at Ortho-McNeil
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is seeing more and more instances of scientific misconduct: plagiarism, lying, cover-ups and other sorts of misbehavior on the part of researchers thought to be seeking objective, scientific truth. And one of those cheaters—he was caught and confessed all—is now is the director of research at Ortho-McNeil, maker of the Ortho Evra birth control patch, which has been linked to such side effects as blood clots, stroke and even death.Dr. Andrew Friedman was a successful surgeon and researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. But between 1992 and 1995, Friedman had been making up data in some of the clinical studies he ran, whose results were published in top medical journals. When confronted with suspicious data, he initially engaged in an elaborate cover-up that fooled no one.
Investigators soon found that Friedman had concocted information for three separate journal articles involving hormonal treatment of gynecological conditions. “I created data. I made it up. I also made up patients that were fictitious,” says Friedman, who could boast a 30-page resume, had won numerous honors and spoken at academic gatherings around the world.
Friedman’s reputation was ruined, or so it seemed. Over the next three years, he consulted with drug companies, paid a $10,000 fine, gave up his medical license for a year and did volunteer work with the American Red Cross.
But in 1999, after reinstatement of his medical license, Friedman was hired to be the director of women’s health care at Ortho-McNeil. His job involves the design and review of clinical trials for hormonal birth control, writing package insert labels and lecturing to doctors. He has even appeared on television and in newspaper articles, defending the safety of the Ortho Evra birth control patch.
Ortho Evra birth control patch lawyers and former Ortho Evra birth control users are not pleased to see him make such a quick comeback from disgrace. One of Friedman’s former patients, Mary Anne Wyatt, puts it this way: “I think it’s not at all surprising that a drug company would hire somebody who is very comfortable with hiding the effects of very dangerous drugs.”