Society This article is more than 21 years oldTop doctor accused of faking research
This article is more than 21 years oldSenior government medic faces probe over allegations he invented drug dataA top government doctor and one of the country's most important guardians of medical safety is facing allegations he faked his own drug research.
The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, is being asked to investigate research carried out by Dr David Jefferys, who is a favourite to take over the running of the Medicines Control Agency. If he is appointed, Jefferys will have the ultimate say in whether any new drug is allowed on to the UK market.
If claims were proven that a senior public health watchdog faked research, there would be shockwaves through the medical world. The case will throw the spotlight on the issue of research fraud, which the medical establishment has been criticised for failing to tackle.
Jefferys, who denies the allegations and believes they are fuelled by a personal vendetta, is one of the most powerful people in British medicine. He runs the government body in charge of ensuring medical devices used in the UK are safe.
Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, said: 'Dr Jefferys is in a position of immense public trust and has a lot of power in the medical world. If there is prima facie evidence of misconduct then a full independent investigation is warranted.'
The accusations against Jefferys centre on research he carried out while at Guys Hospital between 1978 and 1983, including his thesis that earned him his medical qualification. He conducted research into the effects of alcohol on the body and claimed that a drug called naxolone could help revive some drinkers from coma.
Allegations levelled at Jefferys include claims that he made up data, exaggerated the number of patients he studied and claimed to have used complex equipment which was not available at the unit where he was working. Jefferys argues that the research was collected through questionnaires and that he used equipment based elsewhere in the hospital.
Dr Peter Wilmshurt, a consultant cardiologist at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and an expert in research fraud, has studied the allegations and has written to Sir Liam Donaldson urging a thorough investigation.
Wilmshurst said: 'Dr Jefferys is one of the country's most important custodians of public health. It is vital that he has the utmost integrity. The public would be right to have concerns if they found out the man whose job was to ensure medicines are safe faked some of his research, however long ago that was. Of course this may not be the case, in which case Donald-son will be able to say so.'
Jefferys is confident that any investigation will clear him of wrongdoing. He says the 'unfounded' allegations concern work he did some 20 years ago, and have been circulating for years.
He believes the accusations were originally sparked by opposing factions in the medical department at Guys Hospital and believes there may be a vendetta against him, stirred up by rumours he was about to get the top job in public health.
There have been already been three investigations - by London University, the Department of Health and the General Medical Council. All have concluded there was no substance to the claims.
However, some senior members of the scientific community and medical profession who have studied Jeffery's work believe serious questions remain.
They point to the fact that all three inquiries have been conducted in private and potentially key witnesses have not been questioned.
One such individual is Professor Stephen Evans, a highly-regarded international expert in medical statistics who also specialises in research fraud.
Ten years ago Evans sent a report on the thesis to London University in which he concluded: 'Having now studied the complete thesis in some detail I think it is clear that anyone reading this with a statistical knowlege and an experience with biological data would be very surprised if the data were genuine.
'It would be difficult to prove it in a court of law without access to more data. My professional opinion however is that it is more likely than not that these data are in part, or in whole, fabricated.'
Evans said that this does not of itself prove fraud or misconduct, but it raised some serious questions.
Jefferys denied to The Observer that he fabricated any of his research and rejected all the allegations against him.
He said: 'All these studies were faithfully done and were the result of a considerable amount of hard work and endeavour, undertaken largely in my own time, evenings, during annual leave and at weekends.'
He said the claims referred to work he did 22 or 25 years ago and all the data was available at the time to back up his work which was examined by London University.
Jefferys also said Evans was a mathematician and would not appreciate the biological nature of his research which was based on medical knowledge.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Health said: 'We have been aware of these allegations against Dr Jefferys since 1992. They have been investigated at a senior level and have not been substantiated at any stage.'
Additional reporting: Barbara Altounyan, Flame TV
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