WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a press release issued on March 10, 2009, Coast Independent Review Board informed the public that it had discovered what appeared to be a fraudulent clinical trial submitted to that Independent review board for evaluation. Coast IRB has since learned that the fraudulent trial was apparently commenced as part of a congressional “sting” operation. Apparently at the behest of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce agents submitted false credentials and clinical trial data to Coast IRB and possibly other IRBs to induce them to perform reviews. Evidence of the progress of the trials could then form the basis for arguments critical of FDA and in favor of greater regulatory oversight. Unless pursuant to a court order or under the auspices of the Department of Justice, the sting could be illegal, violating wire fraud, mail fraud, and state laws against fraud and false credentialing.
