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Doctored
Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimers | Charles Piller
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For readers of Empire of Pain and Dopesick, an arresting deep dive into how Alzheimer's disease treatment has been set back by corrupt researchers, negligent regulators, and the profit motives of Big Pharma. Nearly seven million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease, a tragedy that is already projected to grow into a $1 trillion crisis by 2050. While families suffer and promises of pharmaceutical breakthroughs keep coming up short, investigative journalist Charles Piller's Doctored shows that we've quite likely been walking the wrong path to finding a cure all along - led astray by a cabal of self-interested researchers, government accomplices, and corporate greed. Piller begins with a whistleblower - Vanderbilt professor Matthew Schrag - whose work exposed a massive scandal. Schrag found that a University of Minnesota lab led by a precocious young scientist and a renowned director delivered apparently falsified data at the heart of the leading hypothesis about the disease. Piller's revelations of Schrag's findings stunned the field and the public. From there, based on years of investigative reporting, Doctored exposes a vast network of deceit and its players, all the way up to the FDA. Piller uncovers evidence that hundreds of important Alzheimer's research papers are based on false data. In the process, he reveals how even against a flood of money and influence, a determined cadre of scientific renegades have fought back to challenge the field's institutional powers in service to science and the tens of thousands of patients who have been drawn into trials to test dubious drugs. It is a shocking tale with huge ramifications not only for Alzheimer's disease, but for scientific research, funding, and oversight at large.
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As someone who was doing biomedical research before becoming a dad, I found this book to be a fascinating read!

During my graduate studies and post-doc, I heard of the odd case of academic dishonesty and data fabrication, mostly through the media. This book was eye-opening because data manipulation is rampant in the field of Alzheimer‘s research, with cases stretching back decades with some of the most accomplished researchers.

A must read!

Kitta I work in biomedical science still, in a field closely related to the scandal involving Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos 😬 These kind of books interest me a lot! And I‘d recommend the one about her: (edited) 5d
Pruzy @Kitta I‘ve read that one! Also another crazy and fascinating story. Have you watched the mini-series starring Amanda Seyfried as Holmes? It‘s called The Dropout 4d
Kitta @Pruzy yes! I thought it was really good. 3d
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