The recently published book “Doctored” has been promoted in a variety of outlets including the New York Times, STAT, and National Public Radio. The book squarely takes aim at Alzheimer’s disease research, collating recent articles in Science magazine and levying troubling accusations at a handful of prominent researchers in the field. The book paints with a broad brush, implicating the entirety of the field’s work and suggesting that these few cases cast doubt on the recently approved anti-amyloid treatments that have now entered the clinic and may hold promise for delaying the onset of cognitive problems due to Alzheimer’s disease.
While the findings are distressing, the book does not thoroughly “connect the dots” between these few cases and the larger field, including the recently approved drugs.
We have always endeavored to make this blog and other UCI MIND communications a place where members of our community can come for trusted answers. A careful review of our offerings makes clear that our commentaries address both favorable and negative happenings in the field. We’ve paid careful attention to news media coverage and demonstrated the impact it can have on our research progress. Indeed, at least some people around the country have withdrawn from clinical research studies (as is their right) because of recent negative press. This has not happened at UCI MIND—we hope because our participants instead seek explanations from our team and use the provided information to make more informed decisions about our mission and the integrity of our work.
We reaffirm our commitment to serving as a source of trusted information for our community. In these remarkable times, we feel this role is nearly as important as our other role—conducting high integrity research to discover solutions for the millions of families living with dementia. We hope that others will do the same and that the media will endeavor to continue to highlight the important progress being made in Alzheimer’s disease research, the tremendous urgency of the work given the swelling number of people living with dementia, and the need to continue to invest in this work to ensure talented and scrupulous investigators have the tools they need to be successful.
