Pfizer Says So Long to Principal Scientist, Retracts 5 Papers

Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) Senior Principal Scientist has quietly left the company, following allegations of data manipulation in several of her published papers. Cancer researcher Min-Jean Yin was with Pfizer for 13 years and published multiple scientific articles during that time. Now, the pharmaceutical giant is retracting five of them and correcting a sixth, after PubPeer raised suspicions of image duplication.
A private corporate inquiry found the images in Yin’s papers were in fact duplicates. Pfizer has recommended, along with the researcher herself, that the journals retract five of these articles and publish a correction to a sixth.

What is image duplication?

This issue—image duplication—is rather prevalent in biomedical publications. In fact, recent research indicates that as much as 3.8 percent of them may contain inaccurate date. It’s an honest mistake most of the time … or at least in 50 percent of cases.

Researchers accidentally replicate western blot images, for example … but they also deliberately splice and duplicate select, clinically promising, parts of a gel band.

Pfizer and Min-Jean Yin

The reported irregularities in Yin’s papers, according to watchdog blog For Better Science, included duplicated western blots and duplicated bands within western blots. The problem articles span a four year period, from 2010 to 2014.
Pfizer is keeping mum on the exact nature of the duplication and the circumstances around Yin’s departure. But while the company has only said that she is “no longer employed” at Pfizer, some suspect the researcher was let go—perhaps as a result of the image duplication incidents.
In September 2016, she joined Diagnologix, a small San Diego-based biotech startup. Once Pfizer’s Senior Principal Scientist, her business card now reads “general manager.”

Investor impact

Meanwhile, Pfizer’s stock seems minimally impacted—despite the fact that each of the five papers to be retracted concern the efficiency of Pfizer’s pharmacological enyzme inhibitors. Like poor clinical trial results, pulled papers can sometimes cause investors to lose faith in a company or its product pipeline.
Still, Pfizer seems to be weathering the scandal well: with Yin out the door and several promising clinical trials underway, it seems investors still have faith in this pharmaceutical company.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Chelsea Pratt, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.