January 8, 2003: FDA Panel Recommends Approval for Ketek Despite Problems with Clinical Study

After reviewing results of clinical study 3014 for the antibiotic Ketek, an FDA advisory panel recommends that the drug be approved. [Aventis, 1/9/2003] The panel makes the decision completely unaware that the FDA had discovered problems with the study only a few months before. [ABC, 1/14/2006; Wall Street Journal, 5/1/2006 ] In October, an FDA examiner found that some doctors were reporting fraudulent results. For example, some doctors had failed to record the data properly while others had invited patients into the study who did not meet the necessary qualifications. In one case, several patients who were enrolled in the study were not actually taking the drug (see October 2001-Fall 2002).