1 Boring Old Man

At one of the first Grand Rounds, he had someone from the faculty of the University of Georgia. I thought it was a great idea. There hadn’t been much dialog between Emory [Atlanta] and the Medical College of Georgia [Augusta], and this seemed like a good way for us to get together. The lecturer who came had pretty slides, but as he talked, it began to sound like a sales pitch for Mellaril [Sandoz] rather than a scientific presentation. I was  disappointed  appalled. I thought the new Chairman would be embarrassed, but he didn’t seem to be. I left Emory at the end of that year. It was mutual, I think. I just didn’t fit anymore. So I didn’t think about that presentation for a decade.

The speaker that day was Dr. Richard Borison, who became Chairman of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia. He was a drug researcher, and I started seeing his name on journal articles, always drug studies. Then I heard [1997] that he had gotten himself into trouble. That was back before everything was on the Internet, but here are a couple of pieces that give the flavor of what happened.

Drug Money
Patients Worsened;  Little Oversight Provided
48 Hours – CBS
July 31, 2000

^{Excited bargain hunters packed the hall in Augusta, Ga., in December 1998 for one of the weirdest auctions of all time. On the block were items from antiques and paintings to suits of armor worth a fortune. They all belonged to the town’s infamous Richard Borison and Bruce Diamond. They no longer need this old stuff; it doesn’t work with their new décor.}

^{Pharmacologist Diamond, now in prison, was convicted on 53 counts, including practicing medicine without a license and prescription fraud. 48 Hours Correspondent Susan Spencer reports. "I liked the money," Diamond explained. "It was almost like an addiction to see how much you can make. It was like a game." Over eight years, he and his partner, psychiatrist Dr. Borison, raked in more than $11 million, turning human drug trials into their personal money machine.}

^{They pretended to be doing the trials for the Medical College of Georgia, where they both were on staff, but they kept payments meant for the college for themselves. In the process, they deceived some of the top drug companies in the country, to say nothing of the patients they put at risk. Drug companies pay enormous amounts to get doctors to do drug trials, sometimes as much as $20,000 per patient in a study. It’s a system that invites corruption.}

^{"I know there are an awful lot of doctors getting into it," Diamond said. "Probably ones that aren’t even competent in doing research"…}

Scientific Fraud: Eric Poehlman / Richard Borison
Alliance for Human Research Protection
29 October 2006

^{Psychiatrist Richard Borison, a far more influential disgraced researcher whose corrupt practices landed him 15 years in prison to be followed by another 15 year probation, and his partner in crime, pharmacologist Bruce Diamond, who received a 5 year prison term, have the odious ‘distinction’ of worst academic research offenders. Both were tenured professors at the University of Georgia – Borison was chairman of the department of psychiatry. Psychiatric Times reported [In 1997, before their trial] "the 3-inch thick indictment chronicles a history of alleged misconduct dating back to 1988. The grand jurors charged that Borison and Diamond "developed and executed a scheme through which they systematically stole in excess of $10 million from the Medical College of Georgia," and that they "routinely lied to conceal their crimes and endangered the safety of the patients and study participants they were employed to serve, protect and heal."}

^{In 1997, the Wall Street Journal reported "Between 1988 and 1996, companies including Abbott Laboratories Inc., Hoechst AG, Warner-Lambert Co., Pfizer Inc. and Sandoz showered [Borison] and Dr. Diamond with contracts for more than 160 studies." In at least 44 trials, the WSJ reported,  Borison and Diamond contracted commercial ethics committees "including  one in Olympia, Washington" .  The two researchers "had been active in the development of many successful drugs, and they were good recruiters," says William Kennedy, vice president of Zeneca Inc., of Wilmington, Delaware, which hired them in 1990 to test Seroquel, a schizophrenia drug.}

^{"Among other companies, Johnson & Johnson hired the men to test Risperdal, its new schizophrenia medicine, and SmithKline Beecham PLC had them evaluate Paxil, a now-popular antidepressant. Their dozens of other clients also included Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Eli Lilly Co. and Glaxo Wellcome PLC…}

^{Furthermore, the FDA failed to question the integrity of Borison’s data from antipsychotic, antidepressant, and Alzheimer’s drug trials – even after the agency had itself uncovered that he had made fraudulent claims in 1984. …the FDA had rebuked Borison after ascertaining that he lied in a paper delivered in May 1985 before the American Psychiatric Association. "He reported that the generic version of Thorazine, a SmithKline schizophrenia drug, wasn’t as effective as the brand-name medicine. Patients on Thorazine at the VA hospital in May 1984 became agitated and hostile, he said, when they were switched to generics the following month.  But when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration examined Dr. Borison’s claims, it found that the VA hospital hadn’t stocked Thorazine in May 1984 and had been using a generic equivalent exclusively for months. In addition, three of the 11 patients supposedly taking Thorazine that month weren’t in the hospital then, the FDA said. In response, Dr. Borison said he had altered the time periods to protect patient confidentiality. But the FDA said a review of all possible time periods also failed to corroborate his data. It publicly rebuked him."}

^{The fraud committed by Borison and Diamond has had enduring influence – their 50 odd articles continue to corrupt the scientific literature and their fraudulent data helped, which the companies submitted to the FDA, helped bring to market highly toxic drugs whose severe adverse effects are shortening the life-span of those for whom they are prescribed. The drugs are even being widely and irresponsibly prescribed for young children. Strangely, the case of Borison-Diamond has remained in the shadows, known only to a few specialists in the annals of psychiatry…}