"Foundational" paper upon which NEARLY TWO DECADES of Alzheimer's studies and research is based may be a "deliberate fraud"

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

If true...Jesus Christ Almighty

 

Two decades of Alzheimer's research may be based on deliberate fraud that has cost millions of lives

DAILYKOS.COM

---

Last month, drug company Genentech reported on the first clinical trials of the drug crenezumab, a drug targeting amyloid proteins that form sticky plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients...

 

Quote

 

Last month, drug company Genentech reported on the first clinical trials of the drug crenezumab, a drug targeting amyloid proteins that form sticky plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. The drug had been particularly effective in animal models, and the trial results were eagerly awaited as one of the most promising treatments in years. It did not work. “Crenezumab did not slow or prevent cognitive decline” in people with a predisposition toward Alzheimer’s.

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) narrowly approved the use of Aduhelm, a new drug from Biogen that the company has priced so highly that it’s expected to drive up the price of Medicare for everyone in America, even those who never need this drug.

 

Aduhelm was the first drug to be approved that fights the accumulation of those "amyloid plaques" in the brain. What makes the approval of the $56,000-a-dose drug so controversial is that while it does decrease plaques, it doesn’t actually slow Alzheimer’s. In fact, clinical trials were suspended in 2019 after the treatment showed “no clinical benefits.” (Which did not keep Biogen from seeking the drug’s approval or pricing it astronomically.)

 

Over the last two decades, Alzheimer’s drugs have been notable mostly for having a 99% failure rate in human trials. It’s not unusual for drugs that are effective in vitro and in animal models to turn out to be less than successful when used in humans, but Alzheimer’s has a record that makes the batting average in other areas look like Hall of Fame material.

 

And now we have a good idea of why. Because it looks like the original paper that established the amyloid plaque model as the foundation of Alzheimer’s research over the last 16 years might not just be wrong, but a deliberate fraud.

 

 

[Mr.Vic20]

Fuck. 

[CayceG]

We've wasted 20 years chasing a lie. How many more people are going to die this horrid death because of this detour?

 

People should hang for this. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

1 minute ago, CayceG said:

We've wasted 20 years chasing a lie. How many more people are going to die this horrid death because of this detour?

 

People should hang for this. 

 

If there ever was a situation that "justifies" the use of the death penalty, this definitely qualifies in my mind.

 

[Jason]

[Guest]

Any more medical science oriented sources available on this. Would be rather huge if true.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

5 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Any more medical science oriented sources available on this. Would be rather huge if true.

 

At this point, Nature has placed this disclaimer on the paper:

 

Quote

14 July 2022 Editor's Note: The editors of Nature have been alerted to concerns regarding some of the figures in this paper. Nature is investigating these concerns, and a further editorial response will follow as soon as possible. In the meantime, readers are advised to use caution when using results reported therein.

 

 

This is the investigation by Science:

 

Potential fabrication in research images threatens key theory of Alzheimer’s disease

WWW.SCIENCE.ORG

---

A neuroscience sleuth challenges data showing one toxic form of amyloid protein is a cause of brain condition

 

[legend]

If this is true, it's really crazy that this took this long to surface. Academia needs to do a much better job incentivizing replication studies. But those are never sexy and won't get you tenure, so here we are.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

8 minutes ago, legend said:

If this is true, it's really crazy that this took this long to surface. Academia needs to do a much better job incentivizing replication studies. But those are never sexy and won't get you tenure, so here we are.

 

That's the crux of the discussion in the ResetERA thread on this topic, especially the lack of any incentivization (financial or otherwise) to perform replication studies.

[legend]

9 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

That's the crux of the discussion in the ResetERA thread on this topic, especially the lack of any incentivization (financial or otherwise) to perform replication studies.

 

Yeah and the thing is, I suspect the scientists themselves would enjoy having it incentivized. CS is a little different than other sciences since its closer to engineering and mathematics, and that has the benefit that it has an degree of implicit replication, but even there I know myself and many others have often talked about making a replication journal because it would be so useful. The interest is there intellectually, but the incentives are not.

 

Of course, it's not just replication. So much of the academic incentive structure is majorly fucked and is one of the reasons I left proper academia. It's barely adequate and far from what science ought to be.

 

/grumble

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

11 minutes ago, legend said:

Of course, it's not just replication. So much of the academic incentive structure is majorly fucked and is one of the reasons I left proper academia. It's barely adequate and far from what science ought to be.

 

The exact phrasing used in the ResetERA thread is that academia is rife with "perverse incentivization".

[legend]

3 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

The exact phrasing used in the ResetERA thread is that academia is rife with "perverse incentivization".

 

That sounds about right to me!

[mclumber1]

Society would have been better off using alchemy to fight Alzheimers compared to this, potentially!

[marioandsonic]

[chakoo]

So judgment might have been on to something. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_(video_game)

 

[unogueen]

capitalism, always capitalism. When will people wake up to what it really means

[unogueen]

20 hours ago, mclumber1 said:

Society would have been better off using alchemy to fight Alzheimers compared to this, potentially!

alchemy is a loaded term. It describes a specific insinuation, but casts bias on history. The western history would have you believe that modernity was a miracle big bang, not a series of events. But whatever, ruling class and all.

[BloodyHell]

13 minutes ago, unogueen said:

alchemy is a loaded term. It describes a specific insinuation, but casts bias on history. The western history would have you believe that modernity was a miracle big bang, not a series of events. But whatever, ruling class and all.

If you said much less, you'd make more sense.

[mclumber1]

Alchemy is @unogueen's trigger word.  Sorry that I upset you, bud. 

[Ricofoley]

Wait, so am I understanding this right that it's not just this particular treatment for the plaque that's called into question by this, but the entire idea that this plaque being built up is what causes alzheimers? Is that correct? 'Cause... man, I thought that was like a well-established fact at this point. That's gutting.

[unogueen]

5 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

If you said much less, you'd make more sense.

buddy im bored.and college took the love of writing from me.

[CitizenVectron]

7 minutes ago, unogueen said:

buddy im bored.and college took the love of writing from me.

 

It appears to have also taken the skill.

[unogueen]

I'm not doing pro work for free

[unogueen]

15 minutes ago, Ricofoley said:

Wait, so am I understanding this right that it's not just this particular treatment for the plaque that's called into question by this, but the entire idea that this plaque being built up is what causes alzheimers? Is that correct? 'Cause... man, I thought that was like a well-established fact at this point. That's gutting.

Seriously though. That always sounded off for me. My grandmother had Alzheimers and learned about it in college. Compared to the regiment of most things, that felt really porous.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Ricofoley said:

Wait, so am I understanding this right that it's not just this particular treatment for the plaque that's called into question by this, but the entire idea that this plaque being built up is what causes alzheimers? Is that correct? 'Cause... man, I thought that was like a well-established fact at this point. That's gutting.

Correct, there is legitimate reason to believe the plaque theory was fraud and has no basis in reality.

[Uaarkson]

1 hour ago, unogueen said:

alchemy is a loaded term. It describes a specific insinuation, but casts bias on history. The western history would have you believe that modernity was a miracle big bang, not a series of events. But whatever, ruling class and all.

Someone get this man a Mark Twain award.

[unogueen]

Are you the same person in real life as the internet?

[legend]

1 hour ago, unogueen said:

capitalism, always capitalism. When will people wake up to what it really means

 

That problems with academia have little to do with capitalism.

[CitizenVectron]

24 minutes ago, unogueen said:

Are you the same person in real life as the internet?

 

Well they're a real person, so they've got you beat there.

[unogueen]

14 minutes ago, legend said:

 

That problems with academia have little to do with capitalism.

Do you not think predatory behaviours don't exist in academia?

 

hew, im a baby, science is pure

[Air_Delivery]

1 hour ago, Ricofoley said:

Wait, so am I understanding this right that it's not just this particular treatment for the plaque that's called into question by this, but the entire idea that this plaque being built up is what causes alzheimers? Is that correct? 'Cause... man, I thought that was like a well-established fact at this point. That's gutting.

Nah its been in question for awhile. It seems that the plaque might be the result of alzhemiers not the cause. Kinda like thinking cleaning up debris is going to stop a tornado. 

[legend]

1 hour ago, unogueen said:

Do you not think predatory behaviours don't exist in academia?

 

hew, im a baby, science is pure

 

My man, I have a PhD and did a postdoc after that before leaving for industry and you can see in the previous posts I made in this very thread that I have numerous problems with academia as it is. Its problems still don't have much to do with capitalism.

[unogueen]

How about predatory publishers?

[CitizenVectron]

14 minutes ago, legend said:

 

My man, I have a PhD and did a postdoc after that before leaving for industry and you can see in the previous posts I made in this very thread that I have numerous problems with academia as it is. Its problems still don't have much to do with capitalism.

 

Unogueen thinks that anything wrong related to money is related to capitalism, because he doesn't understand that money isn't capitalism.

[legend]

14 minutes ago, unogueen said:

How about predatory publishers?

 

What about them? There are lots of issues with publishers and complicated aspects of it, but the core rot of even that is the way universities set up their promotion metrics around them and the grant incentives for the kind of work you publish.