Trial By Error

Tag: chronic fatigue syndrome

  • My Questions for Lancet Editor Richard Horton

    In January, I posted a list of the questions I still wanted to ask the PACE authors, who have repeatedly refused my requests to interview them about their ethically and methodologically challenged study. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, has similarly declined to talk with me, ignoring my e-mails seeking comment for the initial investigation,…

  • Once Again, Lancet Stumbles on PACE

    Last February, Virology Blog posted an open letter to The Lancet and its editor, Dr. Richard Horton, describing the indefensible flaws of the PACE trial of treatments for ME/CFS, the disease otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome (link to letter). Forty-two well-regarded scientists, academics and clinicians put their names to the letter, which declared flatly…

  • An open letter to The Lancet, again

    On November 13th, five colleagues and I released an open letter to The Lancet and editor Richard Horton about the PACE trial, which the journal published in 2011. The study’s reported findings–that cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy are effective treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome–have had enormous influence on clinical guidelines for the illness. Last October, Virology…

  • A Few Words About “Harassment”

    David Tuller is academic coordinator of the concurrent masters degree program in public health and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.   Last week, a commentary in Nature about the debate over data-sharing in science made some excellent points. Unfortunately, the authors lumped “hard-line opponents” of research into chronic fatigue syndrome with those who question climate…

  • More Nonsense from The Lancet Psychiatry

    David Tuller is academic coordinator of the concurrent masters degree program in public health and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.   The PACE authors have long demonstrated great facility in evading questions they don’t want to answer. They did this in their response to correspondence about the original 2011 Lancet paper. They did it again…

  • Did the PACE Trial Really Prove that Graded Exercise Is Safe?

    By Julie Rehmeyer and David Tuller, DrPH Julie Rehmeyer is a journalist and Ted Scripps Environmental Journalism Fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who has written extensively about ME/CFS. Joining me for this episode of our ongoing saga is my friend and colleague Julie Rehmeyer. In my initial series, I only briefly touched on the PACE trial’s blanket claim of…

  • Questions for Dr. White and his PACE Colleagues

    I have been seeking answers from the PACE researchers for more than a year. At the end of this post, I have included the list of questions I’d compiled by last September, when my investigation was nearing publication. Most of these questions remain unanswered. The PACE researchers are currently under intense criticism for having rejected…

  • Revisiting the PLoS One economics analysis of PACE

    On October 23rd, virology blog published the third installment of David Tuller’s investigative report about the PACE study of treatments for ME/CFS. In the post, Dr. Tuller demonstrated that the key finding of an economic analysis of the PACE trial, published in PLoS One in 2012, was almost certainly false. The finding–that cognitive behavior therapy…

  • A request for data from the PACE trial

    Mr. Paul Smallcombe Records & Information Compliance Manager Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road London E1 4NS Dear Mr Smallcombe: The PACE study of treatments for ME/CFS has been the source of much controversy since the first results were published in The Lancet in 2011. Patients have repeatedly raised objections to the study’s methodology and…

  • PACE Team’s Work for Insurance Companies Is “Not Related” to PACE. Really?

    In my initial story on Virology Blog, I charged the PACE investigators with violating the Declaration of Helsinki, developed in the 1950s by the World Medical Association to protect human research subjects. The declaration mandates that scientists disclose “institutional affiliations” and “any possible conflicts of interest” to prospective trial participants as part of the process…

  • An open letter to Dr. Richard Horton and The Lancet

    Dr. Richard Horton The Lancet 125 London Wall London, EC2Y 5AS, UK Dear Dr. Horton: In February, 2011, The Lancet published an article called “Comparison of adaptive pacing therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, graded exercise therapy, and specialist medical care for chronic fatigue syndrome (PACE): a randomized trial.” The article reported that two “rehabilitative” approaches, cognitive behavior therapy…

  • Why has the PACE Study’s “Sister Trial” Been “Disappeared” and Forgotten?

    In 2010, the BMJ published the results of the Fatigue Intervention by Nurses Evaluation, or FINE. The investigators for this companion trial to PACE, also funded by the Medical Research Council, reported no benefits to ME/CFS patients from the interventions tested. In medical research, null findings often get ignored in favor or more exciting “positive”…