Source: blogs.forbes.com
Author: Robert Langreth

The British Medical Journal’s conclusion that the original study that led to the autism vaccine scare was “an elaborate fraud” shows how flawed the current system for reviewing high-profile medical studies is.

The study, by discredited British doctor Andrew Wakefield, was originally published in 1998 by the journal The Lancet, and was retracted last year. Now the BMJ has published an investigation by British journalist Brian Deer finding that the whole thing was a fraud. According to a BMJ editorial, “not one of the 12 cases reported in the 1998 Lancet paper was free of misrepresentation or undisclosed alteration…and that in no single case could the medical records be fully reconciled” with Lancet publication. The editorial concludes that there is “no doubt” that Wakefield was responsible.

The study, with just 12 patients, was dubious from the beginning. Why did it take 12 astonishingly long years to find out the truth? Strict British libel laws may have had something to do with it.

But the bigger problem is the limitations of the medical journal system. The Food and Drug Administration often examines much of the raw data when it analyzes whether to approve or restrict a drug. But medical journals rely more on the good faith of researchers and something called peer review, outside researchers who anonymously review papers. This is good at detecting conclusions that don’t match up with the data, flawed analysis, and and obviously faulty method. But it can leave them surprisingly vulnerable when the data itself is rotten–such as what occurs with deliberate deception or other misconduct.

Frauds have happened in other fields before. Remember the South Korean researcher who was later found to have fabricated data that he cloned human cells? In basic science, misconduct can lead to wasted time and money pursuing false leads.

But fraudulent medical studies have potential to directly harm patients. Hundreds of thousands of kids have foregone important vaccines as a result of the autism vaccine scare. It may have resulted in whooping cough epidemics in California and measles outbreaks in England.