http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3823977.htm?section=world
Hopes about a new drug that could cure skin cancer have been dashed after human clinical trials have been suspended while claims of research misconduct are investigated.
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The medical world was agog earlier this year when researchers in Sydney announced a new drug that could lead to a cure for skin cancer.
But those high hopes have suffered a major setback. An ABC investigation has found that human clinical trials of the drug have been suspended and the University of New South Wales is investigating allegations that some of the research data behind the trials was manipulated and possibly even false.
The university has told 7.30 it suspended the trials last month and has denied its highly confidential handling of the matter amounts to a cover-up.
The scientist who led the research, Professor Levon Khachigian, has declined to be interviewed, as the investigation's still underway, but he's denied the research was flawed or that there was any deliberate misrepresentation.
Medical reporter Sophie Scott has this exclusive report.
SOPHIE SCOTT, REPORTER: In May this year, details of a ground-breaking new skin cancer treatment were revealed.
The discovery of the so-called super drug was led by renowned biologist Professor Levon Khachigian.
LEVON KHACHIGIAN, SCIENTIST, UNSW: It sends the tumour into a death spiral and as a consequence the body's own defence systems clean up the tumour.
SOPHIE SCOTT: The drug is a DNA enzyme called DZ13. It targets cancer cells by switching off a master gene, slowing down the growth of tumours. The potential of the drug was hailed by experts in the field.
SOPHIE SCOTT: And there were hopes the drug could go well beyond cancer treatment.
But even as the news was breaking, a very different story was unfolding behind closed doors as senior management at the University of NSW were confronted with serious allegations that the science which led to the breakthrough was deeply flawed and possibly even false. Tonight we tell the story for the first time and an eminent scientist speaks out to express his concerns.
Click on the link to read the full story.....I watched it last night and felt very unsettled by it all
