Star USC scientist faces scrutiny — retracted papers and a paused drug trial
LOS ANGELES — Late last year, a group of whistle-blowers submitted a report to the National Institutes of Health that questioned the integrity of a celebrated University of Southern California neuroscientist's research and the safety of an experimental stroke treatment his company was developing.
NIH has since paused clinical trials for 3K3A-APC, a stroke drug sponsored by ZZ Biotech, a Houston-based company co-founded by Berislav V. Zlokovic, professor and chair of the department of physiology and neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Three of Zlokovic's research papers have been retracted by the journal that published them because of problems with their data or images. Journals have issued corrections for seven more papers in which Zlokovic is the only common author, with one receiving a after the new supplied data were found to have problems as well.
