In the late 1980s, Chandra was hired by
Ross Laboratories, US manufacturer of
Isomil and
Similac, to determine if their infant formulas could help babies avoid allergy problems;
Nestlé (
Good Start) and
Mead Johnson had also contracted with Chandra for similar studies on their infant formulas. Chandra reported that the Nestlé and Mead Johnson formulas could protect infants from allergies, but the Ross formula could not, despite nearly identical ingredients in the three studied formulas. Marilyn Harvey, a nurse who recruited subjects for Chandra's studies and who disputed the accuracy of the number of infants reportedly enrolled in those studies, stated, "[Chandra] had all of the data analyzed and published even before we had [...] the data collected." In explaining his suspicious results to Mark Masor, then clinical research associate for Ross Pharmaceuticals, Chandra allegedly stated that "the study really wasn't designed right," although he had designed the studies himself, and he also claimed "you didn't really pay me enough money to do it correctly." In 1994,
Memorial University, at which Chandra was a
professor, investigated him for research fraud but its findings were kept private. In 2001, a study by Chandra and published in the journal
Nutrition claimed that his own, patented multivitamin mineral the rights to which had been licensed to Javaan Corporation, a company founded by his daughter Amrita Chandra could reverse memory problems in people over the age of 65. The same study had earlier been submitted to, and rejected by, the
British Medical Journal (BMJ), following a review by an expert who reported that the study had "all the hallmarks of being entirely invented." In response to questions raised about the paper's validity, including questions of whether any of the reported work had actually been performed,
Nutrition published an editorial that stated, "We regret that our peer review process failed to identify these problems before publication." Officials at Memorial University, where Chandra had been a faculty member and where the study was allegedly conducted, were requested to investigate but did not, stating that the combination of Chandra's retirement, his having left the country, and his claim that all the raw data had been lost during an office move prevented an investigation. In 2005 the paper was retracted. In response to the scandal, Memorial University later created the "Marilyn Harvey Award to Recognize the Importance of Research Ethics." In 2015, Chandra filed a lawsuit against the CBC seeking damages for libel in relation to a news segment entitled "The Secret Life of Dr. Chandra," which detailed many of the allegations of scientific and medical fraud (see below) against Chandra. The Ontario Superior Court ruled that the CBC's defence, based upon
fair comment and responsible journalism, were allowed to go to the jury. The jury found that the substance of the CBC broadcast was true, and dismissed Chandra's claim that in preparing the program the CBC had invaded his privacy. The court also ordered Chandra to pay $1.6 million to cover the CBC's legal fees. The presiding judge, Justice Graeme Mew, wrote in the opinion of the court: "Tactically, Dr. Chandra played a high stakes game. The phrase, 'live by the sword, die by the sword' comes to mind. In the end, he failed abjectly." Chandra had been appointed in 1989 as an Officer in the
Order of Canada. His membership in the Order of Canada was terminated on December 3, 2015. == Investigation by College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario ==