How Fraud, Greed and Negligence Have Stymied Alzheimer’s Research and Progress Toward a Cure

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nearly seven million Americans, about one in nine people over the age of 65, live with Alzheimer’s. It’s a heartbreaking disease for those afflicted and the 11 million loved ones who are taking care of them. But despite decades of research and countless promises of a breakthrough, there are no significant treatments to stop the cognitive decline. While mortality rates for other leading causes of death like cancer and heart disease have gone down, Alzheimer’s death rates continue to rise. In his new book “Doctored” investigative reporter Charles Piller makes the case that a wide web of fraud, greed and negligence – from individual scientists to the FDA – has derailed the search for a cure or treatment. And, he says the scientific establishment’s belief in one hypothesis of the disease, despite the lack of progress, has shut out other promising avenues. We’ll talk with Piller about his new book and what it reveals about Alzheimer’s research and the broader science landscape. Guests: Charles Piller, investigative journalist, Science magazine; author, "Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho LaPuerta, a health resort with 85 years of wellness experience,
0:05.9	providing summer vacations centered on well-being. Special rates on three-and-four-night- August
0:11.1	vacations include sunrise hikes, water classes, yoga, and spa therapies, all set in a backdrop of a dreamy summer sky.
0:19.6	A six-acre organic garden provides fresh fruits and
0:22.7	vegetables daily. Learn more at Ranchoer Tuerta.com. Support for forum comes from Broadway
0:28.3	S.F, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story. From three-time Tony-winning
0:35.1	composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:40.3	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:46.0	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion.
1:01.8	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.1	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:08.7	From KQED.
1:23.6	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:32.0	What if a large chunk of the Alzheimer's research that's come out over the last 25 years is based on widespread fraud?
1:36.2	That's the shocking thesis of a new book by journalist Charles Pillar.
1:44.4	Working with neuroscientists and misconduct investigators, he compiled thousands of doctored images from many prominent labs.
1:47.4	There are so many problems now in the scientific record that they suggest that a leading theory about Alzheimer's might need to be massively revised.
1:53.4	We talked with Pillar about his new book, Doctored, Fraud, Arrogance, and Traged in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's.
1:59.2	Coming up right after this news.
2:42.4	Music tragedy in the quest to cure Alzheimer's. Coming up right after this news. I'm going to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
2:47.4	This new book doctored by our guest this morning, Charles Pillar, is a real stunner.
2:52.4	With meticulous and grueling investigative journalism, Pillar demonstrates that large chunks of the Alzheimer's research world are rife with fraudulent data, often in the form of
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.