Fibrogen is reeling from the worst case of data manipulation in years, but six weeks after the scandal broke, the drug maker still hasn’t explained why or how it happened, or identify the people responsible.
On a conference call Monday, Fibrogen CEO Enrique Conterno reiterated his “confidence” in the drug maker’s experimental anemia treatment, a pill called roxadustat. But how can anyone — investors, physicians, regulators – trust a company that spent nearly two years touting cardiovascular safety data that turns out to have been falsified?
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Adam, great article. The elephant in the room is that Conterno came to Fibrogen to replace a CEO that died unexpectedly. This late CEO had a well known reputation for a high level of control and often discarded conventional wisdom related to drug development for his own preferred approach. I have no idea to what degree that dynamic affects this specific situation, but it definitely adds another delicate aspect to the inquiry.