Medtronic Paid Surgeon Accused of Faking Key Study

Medtronic Inc., the world’s largest maker of medical devices, reportedly paid about $800,000 for consulting work to a surgeon who stands accused of faking results of a major clinical study of one of the company’s most important products.

Dr. Timothy Kuklo, a former surgeon in the U.S. Army, is accused of fabricating the report which reached favorable conclusions about Infuse, the Medtronic spine and bone-growth product, according to Reuters report, citing recent articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The news of payments from Medtronic to Kuklo casts a darker shadow over the big business of medical research, which has been called into question recently over money paid to doctors who were hired to give drug company speeches, conduct company studies, and otherwise promote new drugs and medical devices.

Medtronic and other medical industry companies have vowed to do a better job in the future to keep consumers informed about which physicians and researchers are paid by the companies in an effort to reduce conflicts of interest.

Questions About Infuse Study Surface

Kuklo’s work on the Infuse study was based on false information and included forged signatures from other researchers who were listed as co-authors of the work, officials said. He has since left his Army post and is now an assistant medical professor at Washington University.

Medtronic admits it paid Kuklo to do work on behalf of the company, including training doctors, speaking at company events, and helping develop new Medtronic products. However, the company said the payments to Kuklo were not for his work on the Infuse study, which was done without Medtronic involvement.

Medtronic has in the past tried to distance itself from the discredited Infuse study and Kuklo, an orthopedic surgeon who was put on the company payroll in 2006 just as he left the Army.

The Infuse study examined the benefits of using Infuse to treat soldiers who suffered leg injuries in Iraq. Kuklo had worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where many of the war wounded are treated.

Medtronic has been at the center of recent controversy over the safety of some of its products, including defective Sprint Fidelis heart defibrillator wires and Kappa and Sigma pacemakers.

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