The popular nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used for the treatment of arthritis pain, Celebrex, has undergone intense scrutiny in a marathon securities fraud case against the manufacturer, Pfizer. This week, The New York Times reported that thousands of internal documents were unsealed by a federal judge, and that they proved to be riddled with deliberate fraud and deception regarding not only safety concerns about the drug, but claims about the benefits as well.

In 2004, Celebrex and other COX-2-inhibitors—a class of NSAIDs thought to reduce pain and inflammation without the gastrointestinal side effects of other NSAIDs—underwent sharp examination after a similar drug, Viox, was withdrawn from the market after studies uncovered that the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. Leading up to the release of internal documents, Pfizer has dealt with a wave of lawsuits from more than 3,000 patients who claim that Celebrex caused heart attacks and strokes.

The New York Times reported this week that blatant and unabashed deception about Pfizer’s research was detected in the documents unsealed by a federal judge. “They swallowed our story, hook, line and sinker,” wrote a research director. Not only was Celebrex not easier on the stomach than other NSAIDs like aspirin, but the dangers of stroke and heart attack were masked. The only reason it appeared that the drug was safer on the stomach was because Pfizer and it’s partner, Pharmacia, cherry picked their research results by only presenting the first six months of a yearlong study.

To top off the conspiratorial nature of this case, it turns out that Pfizer stole the research that led to the discovery of Celebrex in the first place. Last month, Pfizer settled with Brigham Young University for $450 million. A chemistry professor, Daniel L. Simmons, discovered the genetic workings of the drug in the early 1990s and the university had a research agreement for royalties with Monsanto Company which was later acquired by Pfizer. The original agreement not honored by Pfizer was 15 percent royalty on sales of Celebrex, or about $9.7 billion. Rather than risk losing everything in a trial by jury, BYU settled for just $450 million.

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about some of the eccentricities of big pharma from this bit.