The Nation - News from Feb. 22, 1988

Food and Drug Administration investigators said they believe that agency safeguards have prevented any faulty drugs from reaching the public because of the work of a researcher indicted for falsifying results of clinical drug trials and failing to report potentially dangerous side effects. Dr. Robert A. Fogari, 46, of Saddle River, N. J., former chairman of the Jersey City Medical Center, was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday on 20 counts of conspiring to defraud the FDA and making false statements to hinder an FDA investigation. The U.S. attorney’s office in Newark charged that Fogari falsified reports on patient visits, submitted blood samples drawn from people other than the test subjects, faked X-rays and fabricated EKG readouts. Dr. Alan Lisook of the FDA said the agency requires reports from at least two independent researchers each time a pharmaceutical company seeks to place a new drug on the market.