In an April 2010 investigation into the origins of claims for "autistic enterocolitis", reporter Brian Deer revealed in the BMJ that the original pathology results on the children in the study (obtained from the Royal Free hospital) had been subjected to wholesale changes, from normal to abnormal, in the medical school.
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Just before the retraction, criticism arose over the fact that the Royal Free Hospital had received £55,000 in August 1996 from lawyers preparing to sue MMR manufacturers for support of Dr. Wakefield's research.
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When Wakefield and his colleagues first reported in 1998 a possible association between autistic regression, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and MMR vaccines in the Lancet, they evaluated a dozen children with pervasive developmental disorders, apparent developmental regression, and intestinal symptoms, referred to the Royal Free Hospital.