On October 15, 2018 Gina Kolata of the NY Times published an article detailed Harvard University’s retraction of dozens of articles by cardiologist Dr. Piero Anversara. Dr. Anversa has published about 31 studies detailing how mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow could be injected to regenerative cardiac (heart) muscle tissue. If true, the scientific find would have been revolutionary as a potential new treatment for patients who suffer heart attacks or other cardiac diseases. However, after a review that started in 2013, Harvard Medical School and Brigham And Women’s Hospital ultimately had to agree to pay $10 million dollars to the federal government to settle accusations that Dr. Ansera submitted fake data to get federal research funding. The additional issue was that no other reputable lab could ever repeat the amazing results reported by Dr. Ansera. The articles have essentially all been retracted and even co-authors have verified that the data they generated did not match reports published. Unfortunately there are still companies selling stem cell therapy as a treatment for injured hearts and there is even a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute clinical trial still enrolling patients to have stem cells injected as a treatment for heart failure.
Click the link for the NY Time s article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/health/piero-anversa-fraud-retractions.html
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