Fraud, Scandal, and Failure in the Fight Against Alzheimer's Disease

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why is it so hard to find a cure for Alzheimer’s? A simple answer is that the brain and its disorders are complicated. But as today’s guest, Charles Piller, writes, there’s another, more sinister factor at play. His new book, 'Doctored,' traces an incredible, true story of fraud, arrogance, and tragedy in the quest to cure Alzheimer’s. In the last few years, some of the most famous and revered neuroscientists in America have been accused of doctoring images in research related to Alzheimer’s and neuroscience—even as they raised tens of millions of dollars in funding based on this doctored science and set up clinical trials for thousands of patients based on these manipulated results. At the same time, a silent conspiracy of groupthink starved this field of research of fresh ideas, with catastrophic consequences. Piller explains how he broke the story of what might be this century's biggest scandal in American medical science. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Charles Piller Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:05.9	Today, the biggest scandal in medical science.
1:17.9	In 2021, the world seemed to be on the cusp of a historic breakthrough in neuroscience.
1:24.3	A biotech firm called Casava announced that they had invented a drug that could reverse one of the worst and most mysterious ailments we know, Alzheimer's disease.
1:29.3	Afflicting nearly 7 million Americans, Alzheimer's, and other forms of advanced dementia,
1:35.3	are not just an enormous challenge for patients, robbing them of their memory, their identity.
1:42.3	They are a psychic tax on caregivers and a financial burden.
1:47.9	In 2023, citizens spent $350 billion in private spending caring for patients of dementia.
1:56.7	One third of $1 trillion.
1:59.9	But now, in 2021, it seemed we were finally on the brink of a cure.
	...

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