Duke to Pay $112.5 Million to Settle Scientific-Misconduct Lawsuit

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Duke University will pay $112.5 million to settle a lawsuit over its alleged submission of falsified data to obtain $200 million in federal research grants.

The lawsuit, filed by a former lab analyst, Joseph Thomas, alleged that from 2006 to 2013 a research technician, Erin Potts-Kant, fabricated data that Duke used to get research funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Thomas also alleged in the lawsuit, filed under the False Claims Act, that Duke covered up the fraud. The university said on Monday in a written statement that its officials discovered the possible fraud only in 2013, after Potts-Kant was fired for embezzlement. The university did not initially understand “the extent of her research misconduct.”

The Department of Justice, which joined the whistle-blower lawsuit, said on Monday in its own statement that the settlement sends a “strong message that fraud and dishonesty will not be tolerated in the research-funding process.”

“Individuals and institutions that receive research funding from the federal government must be scrupulous in conducting research for the common good and rigorous in rooting out fraud,” said Matthew G.T. Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, in the statement. “May this serve as a lesson that the use of false or fabricated data in grant applications or reports is completely unacceptable.”

Vincent E. Price, Duke’s president, said in the statement that the university was taking steps to improve research integrity.

“We expect Duke researchers to adhere always to the highest standards of integrity, and virtually all of them do that with great dedication,” said Price. “When individuals fail to uphold those standards, and those who are aware of possible wrongdoing fail to report it, as happened in this case, we must accept responsibility, acknowledge that our processes for identifying and preventing misconduct did not work, and take steps to improve.”

12 Papers Retracted

Potts-Kant, a former researcher in the pulmonary, allergy, and critical-care departments of Duke Health, has had more than 12 scientific papers retracted since news broke of the allegedly falsified data, according to Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle. Duke said in its statement that it had retracted scientific publications that relied on the data.

The settlement includes reimbursement for 30 grants received as a result of the falsified data, as well as associated penalties. Thomas will receive more than $33 million in the settlement, according to the Justice Department.

The National Institutes of Health imposed additional regulations on Duke researchers in April 2018, according to the student paper. Researchers applying for grants of less than $250,000 are required to provide a detailed budget.

Price said in the statement that the university had already made changes to promote scientific integrity. The university appointed Geeta Swamy as associate vice provost and vice dean for scientific integrity in November 2018. Duke also began requiring science and accountability plans for all School of Medicine units and started an Office of Scientific Integrity.

“Through these efforts, many of which have been underway for several years, we aim to promote and adhere to the highest standards of research excellence and integrity,” Price said. “Our difficulties in ferreting out and ending such misconduct remind us that important work remains to be done.”

Price also announced new steps in response to the settlement.

Duke will appoint an Advisory Panel on Research Integrity and Excellence that will provide recommendations to the university by June 30. It will also create an executive oversight committee, led by A. Eugene Washington, chancellor for health affairs.

“We continue to have great confidence in the high quality of Duke faculty and their research,” Price said. “This settlement, which results primarily from willful misconduct that took place in one laboratory, but which affected the work of many more researchers, should not diminish the life-changing and life-saving work that takes place at every day at Duke.”

The settlement announced on Monday is Duke’s latest brush with research misconduct. The university accepted the resignation of a cancer researcher in 2010 for alleged misconduct.

Zipporah Osei is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @zipporahosei, or email her at zipporah.osei@chronicle.com.