Stem cell researcher that sued Harvard failed to disclose conflicts on 6 publications

Piero Anversa, a stem cell researcher who we recently learned is leaving Harvard and Brigham & Women’s Hospital after suing them, has added a disclosure statement to six publications.

The four papers and two letters were published in Circulation, and all bear identical corrections:

Piero Anversa, MD, discloses that he is a member of Analogous, LLC.

The author regrets this omission.

Trouble is, we can’t find a company by that name. What we do know:

Anversa has a company called Autologous/Progenital — he mentioned it in an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit against Harvard last year:

157. Drs. Anversa and Leri had a multimillion dollar offer to purchase their company, Autologous/Progenital, which was withdrawn when the investigation was publicly disclosed.

He has filed two patents under “Autologous, LLC,” for methods to isolate stem cells.

The lawsuit, by Anversa and his colleague Annarosa Leri, claimed an investigation into their work also cost them job offers.

We contacted Circulation for more information. A spokesperson at the American Heart Association, which publishes the journal, told us:

We were made aware of the issue because it was being discussed in the public domain. As a result, we asked the authors if their disclosures needed to be updated.

We asked for clarification on what the issue was. She told us it was the investigation that prompted the lawsuit, and led to a retraction in Circulation:

An investigation was being conducted by Harvard and it was covered by the Boston Globe and other media outlets.

We asked the AHA if they knew more about the nature of Analogous LLC. The spokesperson told us:

We don’t have that information. Please check with Dr. Anversa.

The corrected publications — none of which are indexed in Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge — are:

• “Human Cardiac Stem Cell Differentiation Is Regulated By a Mircrine Mechanism” (paper, correction)
• “Response to letter regarding article, ‘Human Cardiac Stem Cell Differentiation Is Regulated By a Mircrine Mechanism” (letter, correction)
• “Stem Cells and Myocardial Regeneration: Cooperation Wins Over Competition” (paper, correction)
• “Age-Associated Defects in EphA2 Signaling Impair the Migration of Human Cardiac Progenitor Cells” (paper, correction)
• “Growth Properties of Cardiac Stem Cells Are a Novel Biomarker of Patients’ Outcome After Coronary Bypass Surgery” (paper, correction)
• “Response to letter regarding article, ‘Growth Properties of Cardiac Stem Cells Are a Novel Biomarker of Patients’ Outcome After Coronary Bypass Surgery’” (letter, correction)

We’ve reached out to Piero Anversa and his lawyer for more information, and will update this post with anything else we learn.

Hat tip: Kerry Grens

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