The Lancet warned that a study published last year (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the risk of oral cancer: a nested case-control study. Lancet. 2005 Oct 15-21;366(9494):1359-66) may have been fake. The study said long term use common painkillers such as ibuprofen could reduce the risk of oral cancer, including in smokers, but could also bring higher risks of death from heart disease.

*Note* It has since been discovered that Sudbo may have faked 3 other articles, since this blog post.

Officials at the Radium Hospital in Oslo, Norway, told the Lancet they had information suggesting the study was "complete fabrication,'' and lead author, Jon Sudbo, made a verbal confession. Lancet is currently conducting an investigation into the article. Because hospital officials only have a verbal admission to fraud and nothing in writing the journal is contacting co-authors on the paper to inform them that, pending the investigation, The Lancet would issue an expression of concern.

According to Stein Vaaler, director of strategy at Oslo's Radium hospital, in an article from The Guardian, "He faked everything: names, diagnosis, gender, weight, age, drug use, there is no real data whatsoever, just figures he made up himself. Every patient in this paper is a fake." Of the 908 sample people in the study, 250 people had the same birthday. The scandal broke when the Norwegian prime minister's sister recently read the Lancet article. She noted that Dr Sudbo claimed to have gathered information from a national database which had not been available at the time.

The hospital is now conducting as to why Sudbo falsified data and how it was able to pass review by other experts. The hospital and an external commission will conduct an investigating into all research involving Dr Sudbo. They will examine 38 articles Dr Sudbo has published since 1997, including two articles in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Radium Hospital has halted Dr Sudbo's research at the department of Medical Oncology and Radiotherapy and hospital chiefs discussing whether he can continue treating patients.

***Krafty note: The doctor spells his name Jon Sudbo (where the o has a line through the middle of it) . However it is reported as Sudboe and Sudbo depending on the news articles. In PubMed it is Sudbo J.

Lancet Study Fake
The Scientist
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/22952/

Respected Norwegian scientist faked study on oral cancer
The Guardian
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,1687476,00.html

Cancer study patients 'made up'
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4617372.stm