Although you really have to question the effectiveness of the FDA if their people were duped by such an obvious fabrication. Did no one just bother to run the numbers themselves?
The problem is EVERYONE is doing it. Always. The share holders practically demand it. Also, I think it goes without saying that the original post overly simplifies things a bit. If the pharm industry cooked the books to come up with substantiating evidence that looked highly convincing, it doesn't surprise me that stuff like this slipped by.
Previously: Climategate, Madoff, Enron, Sports doping, and so on and so forth basically throughout the entirety of humanity's recorded history.