The Illusion of Evidence-based Medicine
from March 2021, but highly relevant because explains how studies on HCQ, etc, could have been so wrong
Leemon McHenry PhD
41 minutes
https://youtu.be/UAEAWyfuEWY
How did medical journals like Lancet go so far wrong on HCQ (etc)?
This video clarifies how this probably happening.
Via medical ghostwriting
Medical ghostwriting - Big pharma is manufacturing medical article behind the scenes for marketing purposes. Medical journals are not what they seem. Peer review is not trustworthy.
What is medical ghostwriting?
Worst-case scenario - pharma does a trial, someone writes the manuscript for the trial, pharma pays the med communication co to approve draft of the manuscript; then marketers approve the manuscript. Then they find suitable authors - honorary. Academics at research centers are paid to put their names on the papers. THIS IS FRAUD.
Medical journals have evolved into medical "laundering" operation. 'Dirty' (ghost written) manuscripts are converted to 'clean' manuscripts. ONLY THEY ARE NOT.
Opinion leaders - Their names end up as the first author on journal articles.
writer - the one who drafted the manuscript (name is eventually dropped)
author - the one who gets credit
Many of the journals have become dependent on Big Pharma money. - They also buy many copies of these journals. So they are conflicted. As a result, they publish a mix of articles. Some of the articles are real, some are fraudulent - but the latter are so well written it's almost impossible to tell the difference now.
Medical journal editors and ghostwriters go to the same conferences. Symbiotic relationship.
VIOXX scandal - problems were known re strokes/heart attacks during the trials. One of the ghostwritten manuscripts downplayed heart attack dangers. One of the lead authors said "i went with the data that Merck gave me."
Adverse events - Ghostwriting helps hide them. You can describe the adverse events in different ways - depending on its CODING, it can be 'hidden'. In one study, they coded suicidal events as 'emotional ability'.
Other ways to manipulate a study -
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study design
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conduct of the trial (typically outsourced)
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reporting of the trial
You can have cheating at every stage.
Last 20-30 years - the risk/benefit ratio is not in favor of the drug.
Big Pharma uses a combo of fear and our trust in pharma to promote drug use.
Role of FDA - industry becomes a client to the regulators - thus no rigorous regulating - and the problem of the revolving door.
COVID 19 "vaxxes" - rushed to market fast
There's every reason to be skeptical. "Is what we've got marketing or science?"
What kind of trust are willing to put in this?
How do we get back to evidence based medicine?
Solution: Don't let mfrs do their own testing