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Clinical trials Medicine Politics

No, “right-to-try” has not “saved thousands of lives,” contrary to Donald Trump’s claims

Former President Donald Trump bragged in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that “right-to-try” had saved “thousands of lives”? I realize that his speech seems like ancient history now, but I still had to ask: What’s the real story?

Categories
Clinical trials Pseudoscience Quackery

Quelle surprise. Son of TACT (TACT2) shows that chelation therapy doesn’t work for heart disease

Orac has long argued that chelation therapy for heart disease is quackery. An abstract presented last month finally confirmed that. Why did it take so long?

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Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Clinical trials

An antivaxxer is creating his own bogus institutional review board (IRB)

James Lyons-Weiler recently announced that his antivax org, Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge (IPAK), is creating his own IRB. Its real purpose? Most likely to provide cover for unethical antivax studies.

Categories
Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Quackery

Did hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) really kill 17,000 COVID-19 patients?

A recent study concludes that the rampant use of HCQ early in the pandemic could have resulted in 17,000 excess deaths. But did HCQ really do that? Possibly, but it’s complicated.

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Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Medicine

How EBM fundamentalism was weaponized against public health in 2023

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been a very useful paradigm for assessing evidence in medicine. However, like any other framework, it can be misused, particularly when fundamentalist EBM methodolatry leads to its inappropriate application to questions for which it is ill-suited, a misuse that has been weaponized against public health during the pandemic.