DEREK LOWE ON THE LATEST IN CLINICAL TRIAL FRAUD. “This came to light because a contract worker went to his or her supervisors with a problem: this person had been asked to change data and documentation on a hard drive before an FDA inspection, and the supervisor making the request (who was later fired) had worked at 18 other trial locations in China. This led the FDA, naturally enough, to say that it was worried about what else might have been going on, and to complain about broad problems with oversight. . . . It doesn’t have to be that way. There are vast numbers of ethical, hard-working scientists and staff in both India and China; it’s not like these entire countries are full of cheaters and corner-cutters. But international companies go to these countries to get work done for lower cost, so the incentives are there to keep those costs down by whatever means come to hand. There are underhanded shortcutters in every country in the world, but some business environments give these people more scope to exercise their talents.”