Swedish Ethics Review Board: Macchiarini Is Guilty

The group calls for the retraction of six publications by surgeon Paolo Macchiarini regarding the synthetic trachea transplantations that led to the death of at least three patients.

Written byJef Akst

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YOUTUBE, ANNEWSThe Expert Group on Scientific Misconduct at Sweden’s Central Ethics Review Board (CEPN) has found evidence of scientific misconduct in all six of Paolo Macchiarini’s synthetic trachea transplantation publications it reviewed. The papers reported on the implantations of three patients with artificial tracheae—all of whom died.

“[T]he transplantations are described successfully in the articles, which is not the fact,” the Expert Group on Scientific Misconduct said in a statement last week (October 27). “The Expert Group also establish[ed] that the information in the articles are misleading and beautifying regarding the patients conditions and furthermore that information has been withhold in this purpose and that this constitutes scientific misconduct. In addition, there is false information of ethical approval, which also constitute[s] scientific misconduct.” The group—composed of University of Uppsala professor of surgery Martin Björck and Detlev Ganten, a professor emeritus of pharmacology and former CEO of the Charité—recommends the retraction of all six articles.

The report, released on October 20, further concluded that it was not just Macchiarini who was at fault, ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
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Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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