Cardiologists and researchers alike are calling for the early halt of a national heart stem cell trial after Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital expressed concern earlier this week that some of the work the study is based on might be falsified.
That work was authored by Piero Anversa, a pioneer of cardiac stem cell research who’s historically been lauded for his efforts in the field. But Oct. 14, STAT reported Harvard and Brigham and Women’s were recommending the retraction of 31 of Anversa’s previously published studies after an internal investigation concluded his results were, at least in part, fabricated.
In the ongoing trial, which is supported by $63 million in federal funds, physicians inject regenerative cardiac stem cells into heart failure patients, whose heart function they hypothesize will improve as a result.
But scientists are arguing the faulty research that laid the foundation for the study—Anversa’s research—could be endangering those patients.
“I think that the trial should be halted, and they should have an external review,” Darryl Davis, a cardiologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, told The Washington Post. “The Anversa data compromised part of the rationale for that trial, and I think we have to understand better what these cells actually can do before we subject the patients to the risk of having an invasive procedure.”
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute doesn’t agree, according to the Post—their researchers argue the trial is based on an offshoot of Anversa’s research rather than his original work.
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.