A Colorado company that approved a make-believe clinical trial run by doctors who did not exist got a dose of reality on Tuesday.

Under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration, the company agreed to temporarily suspend approving federally regulated medical studies or enrolling new patients in ones currently under way.

The agreement by the company, Coast Independent Review Board of Colorado Springs, could have an impact on its future operations. It may also affect some of 300 active studies involving human patients that Coast currently oversees on behalf of makers of drugs or medical devices.

Coast said last month that it planned to overhaul its procedures, a theme it emphasized in a statement released Tuesday. “Coast I.R.B. is changing everything, said the company’s chief executive Dan Dueber. “We are revamping every aspect of the company.”

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Drug and device manufacturers pay companies like Coast to make sure that medical trials are performed ethically and that patient safety is protected. But last month, Coast first embarrassed itself, then became a Congressional whipping boy.