The 2011 lawsuit filed against Anil Potti and Duke University has been settled, Retraction Watch reports.
Eight patients, or their estates, sued him, his collaborator Joseph Nevins, and Duke, his former employer, after learning that the clinical trial they participated in was based on shoddy science. Nearly a dozen of Potti's papers, many purporting to link certain gene expression signatures to response to cancer therapeutics, have been retracted while others have been corrected. Potti resigned from Duke in 2010 following questions about his work and misinformation provided on grant applications.
The attorney for the plaintiffs tells Retraction Watch that his "clients and Duke University Health System have resolved and settled all claims against the current defendants arising out of the genomics-based clinical trials for cancer treatment. The specific terms of the settlement are confidential, by mutual agreement of the parties."
The News & Observer says "the dollar amount of the settlement is likely to be substantial, given the depth of the research misconduct and damaging evidence discovered in the lawsuit, including a whistleblower who alerted Duke to the misconduct in 2008 but went ignored."