Prof Peter Gotzsche - expelled by Cochrane Collaboration

I am shocked at this news.

 

http://www.deadlymedicines.dk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Moral-crisis-in-Cochrane.pdf

This just makes me cry.

This just makes me cry.

 

I know ...

What the ?? I'll take some time to read what he has written and to try to understand what happened. Very surprising news.

Fiona, it is shocking.

It certainly is shocking.  This was Allen Frances on Twitter.

 

Peter Gotzsche's letter attacking his recent Cochrane expulsion.

I like Peter personally, but he is not an unbiased evaluator of medical evidence.

Takes most extreme positions, in most dramatic way.

Cochrane reviews require calm neutrality/fairness/balance

 

 

Allen Frances was involved in creating the DSM as a psychiatrist !

 

What a surprise. Money, money, money. As well as professional interests/bias.

 

I´m not aware of Gotzsche´s extreme position. That psychiatric/most modern drugs do more harm than good and that the world would be better off if these drugs didn´t exist ? I agree. Nothing wrong with a litle drama.

Everyone has a bias. The use of the word´attacking´ attributes something that is uncalled for. Criticism is more neutral.

 

The corporations rule the world.

Allen Frances?  Knowing his history, I have no respect for that man.  He is a hypocrite and I do not trust him or anything he says.  He's put himself on the right side of history so late in his career, after causing so much harm, including to children, anything he says now, I just see as self-serving.

It's not just Peter who is gone. Four others resigned, as per this paragraph in his letter:

 

"As a result of this decision, and a number of broader issues concerning the inadequate governance of

Cochrane, in accordance with its principles and objectves, four other members of the Board have

resigned. As a result, the Cochrane Collaboraton has entered an unchartered territory of crisis and

lack of strategic directon. A recovery from this dire situaton would call for the dissoluton of the

present board, new electons and a broad-based partcipatory debate about the future strategy and

governance of the organizaton. In just 24 hours the Cochrane Governing Board of thirteen members

has lost five of its members, four of which are centre directors and key members of the organizaton

in different countries."

Yes, he was not alone.  They were in solidarity with him.  I guess they did not feel the CC would be better served had they stayed.  It must be a dire situation and this makes for a very sad state of affairs for us all.  The Cochrane Institute is very well-respected, as I know you know Lapis.  I consulted and used their research on antibiotics to make decisions when I was getting my dental implant.

 

I was reading that Dr. Gotzsche co-founded his branch of the Cochrane Collaboration in 1993.

Yes, and apparently the word "Collaboration" is key. According to his letter, there wasn't much collaboration going on, and he felt the CC was no longer achieving the goals everyone had set out for it.

There is stronger and stronger resistance to say anything that could bother pharmaceutcal industry interests.

 

A year ago, I proposed that there should be no authors of Cochrane reviews to have inancial conficts of interests with companies related to the products considered in the reviews. This proposal was supported by other members of the Board, but the proposal has not progressed at all.

Despite our clear policies to the contrary, my centre, and others, have been confronted with atempts at

scientic censorship, rather than the promoton of pluralistc, open scientic debate about the

merits of concrete Cochrane reviews of the beneits and harms of health care interventons.

 

As most people know, much of my work is not very favourable to the inancial interests of

the pharmaceutcal industry. Because of this Cochrane has faced pressure, critcism and complaints.

My expulsion is one of the results of these campaigns.

 

What is at stake is the ability of producing credible and trustworthy medical evidence that our society values and needs.

 

Is the Cochrane Collaboration bowing to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry? I'm sorry, but I'm not well versed in this. They seem afraid to say anything against the industry, and Dr. Gotzsche has certainly been outspoken about it.

 

I'm sorry that this has happened. Scientific censorship is a sad state of affairs already...

Is the Cochrane Collaboration bowing to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry? I'm sorry, but I'm not well versed in this. They seem afraid to say anything against the industry, and Dr. Gotzsche has certainly been outspoken about it.

 

I'm sorry that this has happened. Scientific censorship is a sad state of affairs already...

 

Hi Terry,

 

Yes, that's exactly how I understand it. 

It flies in the face of what the CC is meant to do. It makes a mockery of the whole thing, it seems to me. How unfortunate. We need the checks and balances they provide.

"Scientific censorship is a sad state of affairs already..." Yes, so called freedom of speech is limited in many forums, by admonishment & by more severe means ...

Is the Cochrane Collaboration bowing to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry? I'm sorry, but I'm not well versed in this. They seem afraid to say anything against the industry, and Dr. Gotzsche has certainly been outspoken about it.

 

I'm sorry that this has happened. Scientific censorship is a sad state of affairs already...

 

Hi Terry,

 

Yes, that's exactly how I understand it. 

 

How sad... :'(

It is.  :'(

This is David Healy's blog on the subject, too much for me to read.

 

https://davidhealy.org/cochrane-cock-up/

This is the host of the podcast The Recommended Dose, funded by Cochrane Australia, on the subject:

 

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2018/09/17/ray-moynihan-lets-stop-the-burning-and-the-bleeding-at-cochrane-theres-too-much-at-stake/

 

The podcast is actually pretty good btw. They had John Ioannidis on, who's written some of the most cited scientific papers since the turn of the millennium, including "Why Most Published Studies Are False" and "Evidence-Based Medicine Has Been Hijacked". If you want to demolish Pharma studies, he's your guy.

Great article! Thanks for sharing it, DataGuy. I really hope this issue gets settled, as we absolutely need what the Cochrane Collaboration provides -- that is, as long as there's no bias from those involved with pharmaceutical companies. The whole point is to provide unbiased, truthful information.

https://www.cochrane.org/news/statement-cochranes-governing-board

 

I really, really don't like that one ...

I've read their statement twice and I can't help it but say, that's a pathetic letter.  They're investigating him for "repeated bad behaviour", "repeated, seriously bad behaviour".  What's that supposed to mean?  It was recommended they get an independent review by a "very senior lawyer." To me the CC's statement sounds vague, insubstantial and juvenile.

 

Here's the latest from the Council for Evidence Based Medicine:

 

CEP declares its support for Professor Peter Gøtzsche:

 

http://cepuk.org/2018/09/19/cep-expresses-support-professor-peter/#comments

Thanks for posting that, benzohno. I think Dr. Gotzsche is clearly well-respected by many who know of his work.

A belated your welcome Lapis!

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

I received this email today from International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry (ISEPP),  http://psychintegrity.org/:

 

ISEPP Announces Support for Peter Gøtzsche

 

The International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry announces its full support for physician Peter Gøtzsche, who cofounded the Cochrane Collaboration and led the Collaboration's Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Gøtzsche has been a tireless advocate of scientific excellence in medical research, a critic of industry pressures on research, and a friend of ISEPP.

 

Just weeks ago, the Collaboration's Governing Board voted 6-5 (one abstention) to expel Dr. Gøtzsche from the Collaboration. The Board's reasoning was vague and lacked specific evidence of any wrongdoing on Dr. Gøtzsche's part, creating suspicion among some that the expulsion was motivated by industry interests. Four of the dissenting voters resigned in protest. See this recent article in Science for the details.

 

ISEPP continues to fully support Dr. Gøtzsche's and his future efforts at scientific excellence.

 

 

Chuck Ruby, Ph.D.

Executive Director

 

 

And here is the recent article in Science, referred to above:

 

Sept. 16, 2018

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/evidence-based-medicine-group-turmoil-after-expulsion-co-founder

 

Gøtzsche listed a litany of "pretty widespread concerns" he wanted to address, including the concentration of power at the Central Executive Team in London and the fact that "collaboration" had been dropped from the group's name.

 

Gøtzsche says the decision is likely related to a frontal attack on a Cochrane review about vaccines against HPV, a cancer-causing virus, that he and two co-authors published in July.