Paper Retracted Following Lawsuit

Research funded in part by a biotech was retracted after a lawsuit claiming the work could not be replicated.

Written byEdyta Zielinska
| 1 min read

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Prostate CancerWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NEPHRON

Robert Getzenberg of Johns Hopkins University retracted his finding published in Urology on a novel blood protein that could be developed into a test for prostate cancer, after reviewing the original data and finding inconsistencies in the reported results.

The research had come under scrutiny because Onconome, a company that had in part funded the work, tried to develop the results into a diagnostic and failed, reported ScienceInsider. They found that the biomarker was "essentially as reliable as flipping a coin," according to the Onconome’s lawsuit against Johns Hopkins, Getzenberg, and Getzenberg’s former employer, the University of Pittsburgh.

While the lawsuit was settled in 2010, the research was only retracted in October 2011, after it had been cited 67 times, according to Retraction Watch.

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