|
Breast Cancer Research Study Results
Discredited
A researcher at the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in
Johannesburg, South Africa, was fired for scientific misconduct after
independent auditors found serious irregularities in a study he conducted about
the benefits of high-dose chemotherapy followed by bone marrow transplantation
in women with high risk breast cancer.
Dr. Werner Bezwoda, PhD, the author of the study, presented his
results at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in May 1999.
His study found a significant survival benefit for women treated with high-dose
chemotherapy and an autologous bone marrow transplant versus standard
treatment. A team of American investigators, who visited South Africa to
confirm Bezwoda’s results before commencing a clinical trial using the
same protocol in the United States, found several serious improprieties and
breaches of acceptable research practice in the study. As a result, the
University has officially rescinded the study. |
