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Bad science Clinical trials Medicine Politics

Remdesivir: Gilead wins with unimpressive results announced by press release

On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci announced positive results for the antiviral drug remdesivir treating COVID-19. They were unimpressive and, suspiciously, announced by press release rather than scientific paper. It’s all very fishy, but one thing’s for sure. Gilead Sciences will make boatloads of money.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

NIH HEAL Initiative: $1 billion to study “integrative” nonpharmacologic treatments for pain

The NIH HEAL Initiative is designed to study “nonpharmacologic treatments for pain.” What it will really study will include heaping helpings of “integrative medicine” pseudoscience.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Politics Quackery

Why is antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. meeting with government health and science officials months after meeting with President Trump?

In January, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. bragged about having met with President-Elect Donald Trump about chairing a presidential commission on vaccine safety. In the intervening eight months, no commission has materialized, but, if you can believe his account, Kennedy has been meeting with government officials to promote his antivaccine views at the behest of the Trump administration. As long as that continues, pro-science advocates can’t afford to rest easy.

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Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine History Medicine Naturopathy Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

In which I am compared to Donald Trump by a pro-quackademic medicine activist…again!

John Weeks has long been an activist for alternative medicine—excuse me, “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as it’s more commonly referred to these days, “integrative medicine.” Despite his having zero background in scientific research or the design and execution of experiments and clinical trials, for some bizarre reason in May he was appointed editor […]

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Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine Politics

The 21st Century Cures Act: Still alive, and still poised to endanger patients

it was less than a year ago that I described a bill wending its way through Congress called the 21st Century Cures Act “old vinegary wine in a new bottle.” The reason I characterized the bill that way was because it really was nothing new and it rested on a very old fallacy, namely that […]