Second med journal probes research fraud

A second medical journal is reporting it published false information from a Norwegian scientist who has done research on oral cancer. Last weekend, Norwegian officials said the researcher admitted falsifying data for a study published in The Lancet, a British medical journal.

On Friday, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that a paper published on April 26, 2001, contained two photographs claiming to represent two patients with different stages of oral cancer, but actually showed the same patient. A second article, published April 1, 2004, was believed to involve the same set of "patients."

The journal has not retracted the studied but sent a "letter of concern" to the researcher's hospital. The researcher, Dr. Jon Sudbo of the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, has been on leave and unavailable for comment, his clinic has said.

An independent commission is investigating the faked research.

The two New England Journal studies were about apparent connections between various genetic characteristics and oral cancer.

The study in The Lancet claimed to show that common pain relievers such as Motrin, Advil and Aleve lower the risk of oral cancer but raise the risk of heart problems. Sudbo is alleged to have made up roughly 1,000 patients.