Pill research ‘faked’

Press, 30 September 1986, Page 8

Pill research ‘faked’

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney A former Australian scientist is said to have admitted that he fabricated research on the long-term effects of contraceptive pills. A London “Sunday Times” story in the “Australian” newspaper said the bogus research of Professor Michael Briggs, formerly of Victoria’s Deakin Univeristy, put a question mark over safety checks on pills being taken by up to 10 million women. In an interview at his home on the Costa del Sol in Spain, Professor Briggs was said to have admitted that he had pretended to organise studies of the effects of oral contraceptives and had fabricated a study on

animals. He said he had also included in scientific papers complex biochemical test results, the origins of which he could not name. Professor Briggs’ research, funded by contraceptive manufacturers, purported to assess the possible risk of heart and arterial disease in women after prolonged use of the pill, Drug company advertising relied on his research extensively to promote safety claims. A number of products had been granted government licences on the basis of submissions which included Professor Briggs’ work. Two pill-making companies, Schering AG of West Germany and Wyeth of the United States, which financed much of

Professor Briggs’ work, have denied knowledge of the frauds but said they would no longer use the research.

The “Sunday Times” said Schering and Wyeth paid for Professor Briggs to present his work at special international symposiums, and then financed its publication in one-off books.

Through publication in these books and in journals, his findings had become part of medical literature and were found in the work of nearly all contraceptive researchers. Senior staff of the two drug companies urged the newspaper to emphasise that the public was protected through research by other scientists whose findings resembled those of Professor Briggs.