Seroquel Documents: Criminals Led Seroquel Clinical Trials

I'm sure most of you are at least vaguely aware of the case of Richard Borison and Bruce Diamond, a psychiatrist and a researcher at the Medical College of Georgia who were found guilty of ripping off the college to the tune of $10 million in the 1990s, running some bogus research trials and, in Borison's case, was eventually sentenced to prison. Borison did 10 years before being released on probation in 2008. Diamond was ordered to pay $150,000 in fines, $50,000 in receivership expenses, and $1.1 million dollars in restitution and forfeitures. The pair also used VA facilities in conjunction with their MCG research.

One of the beauties coming out of the newly-released Seroquel documents is evidence that the pair were also deeply involved in running clinical trials of the drug for AstraZeneca (then simply Zeneca) in the 1990s. Back in 1996 when their misdeeds first came to light, Zeneca had to scramble because the pair were involved in at least eight Seroquel clinical trials and the company had to reaudit clinical trials data from their site. Seroquel was first approved for use in treating schizophrenia in 1997, so it's likely the pair had at least some involvement in gathering patient data for the drug's initial FDA submission. Given Seroquel's very checkered history since, it all makes sense.

What's interesting about the press release Zeneca put out in 1996 is that it notes that the drug was "in development for the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders." Clearly, the company at the time had a different vision for the drug than what it's been turned into today by AstraZeneca--the atypical for one and all disorders. ADHD, dementia, depression, anxiety, public speaking phobia, bipolar disorder, and bipolar depression.

Nice, eh?