2 Guilty of Falsifying Drug Trial Data
Two people who worked for Tellus Clinical Research in Florida pleaded guilty 6/8 in a Florida federal court to participating in a conspiracy to falsify clinical trial data. A Department of Justice statement says that Eduardo Novarro, Miami, FL, a sub-investigator, and Nayade Varona, Port St. Lucie, FL, an assistant study coordinator, admitted they agreed with one another and others to falsify data in medical records in connection with two trials evaluating a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Among other things, the statement says, the two falsified data to make it appear as though subjects were participating in the trials even though they were not.
Novarro and Varona face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the department says, and will be sentenced on 8/11.