Ninth Potti paper to date gets retracted

The saga of former Duke cancer researcher Dr. Anil Potti continues with his ninth paper retraction.

The paper, “An Integrated Genomic-Based Approach to Individualized Treatment of Patients With Advanced-Stage Ovarian Cancer,” was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in February 2007. The research studied ovarian cancer patient responses to platinum-based therapy. This marks the latest in a series of about 13 expected Potti retractions, with another 13 expected partial retractions, The Chronicle previously reported.

“The majority of the authors wish to retract this article because they have identified several instances of misalignment of genomic and clinical outcome data,” the retraction noted. “The authors deeply regret the impact of this action on the work of other investigators.”

When the authors reanalyzed the correctly aligned data, they found the paper’s conclusions compromised by a decrease in the accuracy of the predictions—from 77.8 percent to 72.2 percent, according to the retraction. Of the 17 authors, four disagreed with the retraction and one could not be reached for comment. Potti and his mentor and frequent senior author Joseph Nevins were among those in agreement.

The paper had been cited 114 times since its publication, Retraction Watch found.

Potti resigned from the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy and the School of Medicine Nov. 19, 2010 after allegations that he had falsified qualifications on his resume and other documents, including applications for federal funding. There are currently two lawsuits pending against Potti, Duke and others related to clinical trials conducted based on Potti’s genomic research.

The article was retracted Jan. 27 and first reported by The Cancer Letter.

—from Staff Reports