Opinion Archives

PACE: Objections, Challenges & Beliefs

February 7, 2016 No Comments

I am writing this piece to offer Dorothy Bishop & Stephan Lewandowsky some patient perspective on their joint piece in Nature : “Research integrity: Don’t let transparency damage science”. Specifically, I would like to add some context to this line in particular:- “When people object to science because it challenges their beliefs or jeopardizes their interests, they are rarely committed to informed debate.”

Tuller summarizes issues with PACE in Health Affairs

February 4, 2016 No Comments

David Tuller has published a new article in the Health Affairs blog that summarizes the issues with the conduct of the PACE trial and also examines the ways in which PACE and other studies have impacted the attitudes of doctors and the clinical guidelines used by doctors to treat patients. Tuller’s series of articles reporting

Geocentrism and PACE – both on the wrong side of science

February 2, 2016 No Comments

Geocentrism and PACE – both on the wrong side of science Thank you to Ella Peregrine for kindly allowing us to republish her facebook post on #MEAction Recently, David Tuller, James Coyne, Vincent Racaniello, and some other non-invested scientists and writers have been looking more carefully into the claims and relative lack of transparency of the

We All Have CFS, Like It Or Not

February 1, 2016 No Comments

I’ve been inspired to write by Lucibee’s recent blogpost about the PACE trial (https://lucibee.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/my-thoughts-about-the-pace-trial/), She raises an important point about how patients can sometimes be received for reporting any sort of improvement from CBT or GET.

Feds Fail First Test of the “New” Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Era

January 25, 2016 No Comments

The DHHS response is disappointing. The NIH’s continuing reluctance to produce and RFA – the one thing we know will spark interest in ME/CFS – is nothing if not baffling. Francis Collins promises are, at least at this point, ringing hollow.

What the CDC needs to know about the $5.4 million funding restoration

December 16, 2015 7 Comments

In a budget agreement announced early Wednesday morning, funding for the US Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) ME/CFS program was restored to the full $5.4 million. The omnibus budget bill is expected to pass both houses on Friday. CDC funding for ME/CFS had previously been cut to $0 in the proposed 2016 budget. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=””

Charles Shepherd: It's time for doctors to apologise to ME patients

December 7, 2015 4 Comments

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “I left medical school believing that ME was not a real disease and I would probably never see a case. I was wrong” [/pullquote] In this excellent piece in Monday’s Daily Telegraph, Dr. Charles Shepherd describes the history of ME’s neglect and says it’s time for doctors

James Coyne declares “moral equivalent of war” on PACE

November 18, 2015 10 Comments

James Coyne gives a public talk on PACE Trial In a public talk in Edinburgh on Monday, psychologist Professor James Coyne declared the “moral equivalent of war” on the practices and assumptions that, he said, have allowed the “bad science” of the PACE trial to go unchallenged by scientists and the media. The authors of

Prof. Jonathan Edwards: PACE trial is "valueless"

November 1, 2015 16 Comments

OPINION PACE is valueless for one reason: the combination of lack of blinding of treatments and choice of subjective primary endpoint. Neither of these alone need be a fatal design flaw but the combination is. The only possible mitigation of this flaw would be if: 1. There were no acceptable alternatives to a subjective primary

Visionary viral disease treatment needs funding

October 15, 2015 9 Comments

Imagine a drug that could treat almost any viral disease. We may only be a few years’ away, thanks to Dr Rider at MIT.

Category: Opinion