US ex-doctor who ran fraudulent clinical trial sites is sentenced to 28 years in prison

A former doctor who ran two US contract research companies has been imprisoned for 28 years for faking the results of clinical trials and in many cases failing to even administer the drugs under study.

Sami Anwar of Richland, Washington State, owned companies that operated trial centres for studies into the treatment of cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, opioid addiction, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and bipolar disorder, among other conditions.

Former clinic staff testified that the trial drugs were usually thrown away and fake data entered. When subjects were given the drugs, the record keeping was largely fraudulent and useless, the court heard. …