A Duke cancer researcher faked data — and patients were enrolled in clinical trials for it

Anil Potti was a rising star at Duke University Medical Center, an oncologist and associate professor whose research promised to revolutionize cancer treatment. His work claimed that microarray genetic analysis could predict which chemotherapy drugs would work best for individual patients — a holy grail of personalized medicine. Potti published in top journals like Nature Medicine and NEJM, and his research was funded by NIH, NCI, NHLBI, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Three clinical trials at Duke were launched based on his predictions, enrolling actual cancer patients.

The problems were first identified in 2007 by Keith Baggerly and Kevin Coombes, two bioinformaticians at MD Anderson. They found that Potti's data contained anomalies that 'could not have occurred by chance' — gene lists that were too perfect, labels that did not match the experiments, and results that were too clean. They raised their concerns with Duke repeatedly over the next three years. Duke's administration was aware of the whistleblower memo by 2008 but denied any misconduct.

The scandal broke in July 2010 when a reporter discovered that Potti had falsely claimed to be a Rhodes Scholar on his CV. Duke suspended him and began a review that quickly confirmed the data problems. The three clinical trials were permanently stopped in November 2010, and Potti resigned. The Office of Research Integrity found that Potti had fabricated data in multiple studies. The North Carolina Medical Board reprimanded him for unprofessional conduct.

By 2024, 11 of Potti's papers had been retracted, with Duke expecting 27 to be partially or completely retracted. The Institute of Medicine report concluded that the failure to detect the problems 'led to the inappropriate enrollment of patients in clinical trials.' The American Cancer Society stopped a $729,000 grant. Potti's medical license record shows eleven settlements of at least $75,000 each related to the trials. The case was featured on 60 Minutes in February 2012 as 'one of the biggest medical research frauds ever.'