Jon Sudbø
Encyclopedia
Jon Sudbø is a dentist and a consultant oncologist
and former medical researcher at The Radium Hospital
in Oslo
, Norway
. Having earlier been licensed as a dentist and a physician, he earned a doctorate (dr. med) in 2001. Until February 2006 he was an associate Professor at the University of Oslo
. A research fabrication scandal surfaced in 2006; as a result of this his license to practice medicine and dentistry was revoked and the faculty of medicine at the University of Oslo decided to revoke his doctorate.
Recently he gained a limited authorization to work as a dentist, and is currently working in Seljord
, Telemark
.
submission to The Lancet
was based upon fraudulent patient data. The article had suggested that non-COX2
-NSAID
s like ibuprofen
diminish the risk of oral cancer in smokers. However, it turned out that the whole patient material was fictional.
The leader of the epidemiology
division at Norwegian Institute of Public Health
, Camilla Stoltenberg
, found the article suspicious at the end of 2005 because the data was supposedly from a cancer patient database which had not yet opened. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet
reported that of the 908 subjects in the Lancet study 250 had the same birthday.
Sudbø has later acknowledged that he has used fictional data in at least two more
papers, published in the New England Journal of Medicine
and the Journal of Clinical Oncology
.
An independent Commission of Inquiry led by Swedish
Professor Anders Ekbom, that also included a member from the U.S.
National Cancer Institute
, was set up by Rikshospitalet
and the University of Oslo
to discern the details of the fraud. They were also to try to identify the role of the co-authors, which included, among others, Jon Sudbø's brother, wife and Andrew J. Dannenberg
, who was listed as the senior author on the article.
In May 2006, Norwegian and Swedish media reported that the committee was investigating some 60 scientists from 6 countries, and a total of 38 articles.
The commission reported on 30 June 2006 http://www.rikshospitalet.no/view/readavdi.asp?nPubID=6628&department=English. The commission deemed much of Sudbø's work invalid because of manipulation and fabrication of raw data: of the 38 articles he had published since 1993, 15 were condemned as fraudulent, including his doctoral dissertation. Because of this, the dissertation and the other fraudulent articles will be rescinded
. The commission also criticised the co-authors of Sudbø's papers. Professor Anders Ekbom, the Chair of the Commission, said: "One explanation of this catastrophe was that Sudbø was a lone wolf. Few or anyone had insight into his work". However, the commission found no evidence that any of his co-authors had taken part in the fraud or otherwise been party to the deceit (although Sudbø's supervisor accepted criticism for lack of vigilance and follow-up).
In November 2006 his authorization as a physician and a dentist was revoked by the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision
, but in 2007 authorization as a dentist back. In 2009 his authorization as a physician, however he cannot act in medical research.
The fraud may also have had international effects. The commission could not rule out that Sudbø's false conclusions could have had an impact on cancer patients around the world, because his findings were used by other scientists and incorporated into cancer treatments, although Sudbø's solicitor Erling O. Lyngtveit had said on behalf of his client that none of the fraudulent articles had had any consequences for patients http://depesjer.no/saker/sudb%C3%B8-case-co-author-responsibilities-disregarded/. Norway's scientific reputation could also be damaged by the affair, and "massive lawsuits" may be imminent from the national and international organisations that funded Sudbø's fraudulent papers.
According to the Norwegian news website Depesjer ("Dispatches"), scientific experts they consulted felt that Sudbø's co-authors were "severely exploited", but also that closer observations of the Vancouver guidelines and other rules by co-authors would "hamper future attempts at publishing fabricated material" http://depesjer.no/nyheter/aktualitet/medisin/sudboe_case_co_author_responsibilities_disregarded/. Dr. Atle Klovning, a leading European authority on evidence-based medicine
, said in the article that Sudbø's co-authors had probably not lived up to their responsibilities according to the Vancouver rules.
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
and former medical researcher at The Radium Hospital
Radiumhospitalet
The Norwegian Radium Hospital is a hospital in Oslo, Norway dedicated to cancer treatment. It is the largest cancer centre in Northern Europe, with 400 beds and around 2,000 employees. It was founded in 1932, with Severin Andreas Heyerdahl as chief physician and director, and Hans L. C...
in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Having earlier been licensed as a dentist and a physician, he earned a doctorate (dr. med) in 2001. Until February 2006 he was an associate Professor at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
. A research fabrication scandal surfaced in 2006; as a result of this his license to practice medicine and dentistry was revoked and the faculty of medicine at the University of Oslo decided to revoke his doctorate.
Recently he gained a limited authorization to work as a dentist, and is currently working in Seljord
Seljord
Seljord is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Seljord...
, Telemark
Telemark
is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.-Location:...
.
Scandal
In January 2006 it was revealed that his October 2005 fast trackFast Track
Fast Track is an informal English phrase meaning "the quickest and most direct route to achievement of a goal, as in competing for professional advancement".Fast Track may also refer to:* Fast Track, a FoxBusiness.com show hosted by Anna Gilligan...
submission to The Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
was based upon fraudulent patient data. The article had suggested that non-COX2
Cyclooxygenase
Cyclooxygenase is an enzyme that is responsible for formation of important biological mediators called prostanoids, including prostaglandins, prostacyclin and thromboxane. Pharmacological inhibition of COX can provide relief from the symptoms of inflammation and pain...
-NSAID
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, usually abbreviated to NSAIDs or NAIDs, but also referred to as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents/analgesics or nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory medicines , are drugs with analgesic and antipyretic effects and which have, in higher doses, anti-inflammatory...
s like ibuprofen
Ibuprofen
Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for relief of symptoms of arthritis, fever, as an analgesic , especially where there is an inflammatory component, and dysmenorrhea....
diminish the risk of oral cancer in smokers. However, it turned out that the whole patient material was fictional.
The leader of the epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
division at Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is a subordinate institution to the Ministry of Health and Care Services....
, Camilla Stoltenberg
Camilla Stoltenberg
Camilla Stoltenberg is a Norwegian physician, researcher, and director of the Epidemiology division of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health...
, found the article suspicious at the end of 2005 because the data was supposedly from a cancer patient database which had not yet opened. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet
Dagbladet
Dagbladet is Norway's second largest tabloid newspaper, and the third largest newspaper overall with a circulation of 105,255 copies in 2009, 18,128 papers less than in 2008. The editor in chief is Lars Helle....
reported that of the 908 subjects in the Lancet study 250 had the same birthday.
Sudbø has later acknowledged that he has used fictional data in at least two more
papers, published in the New England Journal of Medicine
New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
and the Journal of Clinical Oncology
Journal of Clinical Oncology
The Journal of Clinical Oncology is a medical journal published 3 times a month by the American Society of Clinical Oncology , with a 2009 impact factor of 17.793...
.
An independent Commission of Inquiry led by Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Professor Anders Ekbom, that also included a member from the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
, was set up by Rikshospitalet
Rikshospitalet
Rikshospitalet is located in Oslo, Norway. From January 1, 2009, the hospital is part of Oslo University Hospital....
and the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
to discern the details of the fraud. They were also to try to identify the role of the co-authors, which included, among others, Jon Sudbø's brother, wife and Andrew J. Dannenberg
Andrew Jess Dannenberg
Andrew Jess Dannenberg is a U.S. physician and researcher, currently Henry R. Erle, M.D. - Roberts Family Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He additionally holds the positions there of Professor of Medicine in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Director of...
, who was listed as the senior author on the article.
In May 2006, Norwegian and Swedish media reported that the committee was investigating some 60 scientists from 6 countries, and a total of 38 articles.
The commission reported on 30 June 2006 http://www.rikshospitalet.no/view/readavdi.asp?nPubID=6628&department=English. The commission deemed much of Sudbø's work invalid because of manipulation and fabrication of raw data: of the 38 articles he had published since 1993, 15 were condemned as fraudulent, including his doctoral dissertation. Because of this, the dissertation and the other fraudulent articles will be rescinded
Rescission
In contract law, rescission has been defined as the unmaking of a contract between parties. Rescission is the unwinding of a transaction. This is done to bring the parties, as far as possible, back to the position in which they were before they entered into a contract .-In court:Rescission is an...
. The commission also criticised the co-authors of Sudbø's papers. Professor Anders Ekbom, the Chair of the Commission, said: "One explanation of this catastrophe was that Sudbø was a lone wolf. Few or anyone had insight into his work". However, the commission found no evidence that any of his co-authors had taken part in the fraud or otherwise been party to the deceit (although Sudbø's supervisor accepted criticism for lack of vigilance and follow-up).
In November 2006 his authorization as a physician and a dentist was revoked by the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision
Norwegian Board of Health Supervision
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision is a national government institution under the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services. The name was altered from Norwegian Board of Health on 1 January 2007....
, but in 2007 authorization as a dentist back. In 2009 his authorization as a physician, however he cannot act in medical research.
Effects of fraud
Rikshospitalet and the University were both criticized for "a lack of preliminary control and organization with a view to the researcher's [Sudbø's] PhD project". The hospital was also criticized for "a lack of training and consciousness-raising in respect of the researcher and other employees with a view to the rules for handling patient material, preliminary assessments of research projects and authorship" and for "a lack of leadership and routines designed to expose and deal with non-conformance with its rules of procedure".The fraud may also have had international effects. The commission could not rule out that Sudbø's false conclusions could have had an impact on cancer patients around the world, because his findings were used by other scientists and incorporated into cancer treatments, although Sudbø's solicitor Erling O. Lyngtveit had said on behalf of his client that none of the fraudulent articles had had any consequences for patients http://depesjer.no/saker/sudb%C3%B8-case-co-author-responsibilities-disregarded/. Norway's scientific reputation could also be damaged by the affair, and "massive lawsuits" may be imminent from the national and international organisations that funded Sudbø's fraudulent papers.
According to the Norwegian news website Depesjer ("Dispatches"), scientific experts they consulted felt that Sudbø's co-authors were "severely exploited", but also that closer observations of the Vancouver guidelines and other rules by co-authors would "hamper future attempts at publishing fabricated material" http://depesjer.no/nyheter/aktualitet/medisin/sudboe_case_co_author_responsibilities_disregarded/. Dr. Atle Klovning, a leading European authority on evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine or evidence-based practice aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to clinical decision making. It seeks to assess the strength of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments and diagnostic tests...
, said in the article that Sudbø's co-authors had probably not lived up to their responsibilities according to the Vancouver rules.
Publications
- Sudbø J. 2001. Predictive markers in oral premalignancies and early stage carcinomas. Oslo : Department of Pathology, The Norwegian Radium Hospital. ISBN 82-7633-163-7. Doctoral dissertation, University of Oslo.
- Retracted December 2006
External links
- "The influence of resection and aneuploidy on mortality in oral leukoplakia"
- Exclusive radio interview with Jon Sudbø from NRK P2, June 2006
- Summary of the Commission of Inquiry's report (.pdf format)
- The complete report (.pdf format)
- Case involving scientific fraud 2005-2006 - article with links to the decision of the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision, and reports concerning the case