Researcher To Lose federal Funds

BOSTON (AP) â€” A former Boston eye doctor accused of faking research data in order to obtain grant money has lost access to federal research funds for a decade. <br><br>Dr. Evan Dreyer, who had pledged

Tuesday, November 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOSTON (AP) â€” A former Boston eye doctor accused of faking research data in order to obtain grant money has lost access to federal research funds for a decade.

Dr. Evan Dreyer, who had pledged to fight a cutoff of federal funds proposed in October, agreed to the plan in a settlement with the Office of Research Integrity, which monitors research at institutions that receive Public Health Service funds.

ORI director Christopher Pascal said the penalty imposed on Dreyer, who is now at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia, was one of the office's harshest ever.

Dreyer, who is credited with finding that an amino acid, glutamate, causes the eye disease glaucoma, was accused of faking data in order to secure a research grant at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1996.

He and another researcher proposed to study whether glutamate might also cause Meniere's disease, which can result in incurable deafness.

To obtain National Institutes of Health funds for their work, they needed evidence that the research â€” which involved studying fluid in the ears of guinea pigs that had a condition similar to Meniere's disease â€” was feasible. A colleague who reviewed initial test results conducted by Dreyer voiced suspicions that the findings from the dozen guinea pigs looked too consistent.

When Dreyer was asked to back up the data, he purportedly repeated his experiment, but the new findings were also questioned and were determined to be fake.

The 10-year cutoff of research funds was a compromise between Dreyer and the ORI. Under ORI's earlier proposal to cut off Dreyer's funds for five years, he would also have been barred from receiving reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid.

Under the settlement, Dreyer will be cut off from federal research funds for longer, but he will be able to bill Medicare and Medicaid after that time, ensuring that he will be able to continue his practice.

Dreyer left Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1997, after the investigation began, to co-chair the glaucoma service of Penn's ophthalmology department.