BMJ News reports that a leading researcher who supported the use of celecoxib has admitted fabricating data in 21 of his 72 articles indexed by PubMed. A notice issued by the hospital medical centre where Dr. Reuben was chief of the acute pain service (now resigned), says that Dr. Reuben has admitted fraud. He has received research grants from Pfizer, the US manufacturer of celecoxib (Celebrex®), and has been part of its speakers’ bureau, and pioneered "multimodal analgesia," [the combination of celecoxib with another Pfizer drug, the anticonvulsant pregabalin (Lyrica®)].

Dr. Reuben claimed that the combination was preferable to opioids, and it became a basis treatment option in pain management. The editor in chief of the journal Anesthesiology said that Dr Reuben’s research was central to the claim that celecoxib reduces pain at six and 12 months after surgery. He said that the fraud has made a "hole" in pain research and has led to doubt on claims made about celecoxib. An editorial published early online in the Anesthesiology journal (see link below) suggests that retraction of the article is not sufficient and that the journal will use its peer review system "to assure that these articles are no longer cited by our authors."

In a statement, Pfizer told the BMJ: "It is very disappointing to learn about Dr Scott Reuben’s alleged actions." They added that the withdrawal of his research "does not change the risk-benefit profile of Celebrex. The clinical trials that led to the approval of Celebrex’s six pain indications, including acute pain . . . did not involve any of Dr Reuben’s research."

The chairman of the Committee on Publication Ethics, an international forum for publishers and editors of peer reviewed journals, has said that this case is "among the biggest which has come to light."