GSK fires head of China research over data fraud
pharmafile | June 11, 2013 | News story | Research and Development | China, GSK, Jingwu Zang, MS, autoimmune
GlaxoSmithKline has dismissed its vice president of research in China in connection with ‘misrepresentation’ of research data.
Jingwu Zang had been senior VP and head of R&D at the firm’s Shanghai research base since 2007, and was one of the listed authors of the research in question.
The research examined the role of the Interleukin-7 receptor protein in treating autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, and was published in Nature Medicine in 2010.
Rumours of an internal investigation at GSK came to light in the last few weeks, but GSK has only now confirmed its probe.
GSK points out that the published study was from preclinical, early-stage research and did not directly involve patients, but the admission is nevertheless damaging for the firm.
In its statement issued yesterday, GSK said in addition to the dismissal, a second employee at the China research centre has resigned with three others suspended from their jobs, pending a final review.
GSK said: “The integrity of our research is critical to our work and when these allegations came to light we immediately contacted the journal to tell them that we were taking the charges seriously and would be investigating thoroughly. Regretfully, our investigation has established that certain data in the paper were indeed misrepresented.
“We’ve shared our conclusion that the paper should be retracted and are in the process of asking all of the authors to sign a statement to that effect, according to Nature Medicine’s procedure.”
The scandal has led some to question the trustworthiness of early-stage research conducted by pharma, and indeed the ethics of researchers in China, but it is too soon to say if the episode will have wider ramifications.
Andrew McConaghie
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