A big fraud problem
By Ed Cara
Watchdog scientists are sounding the alarm over covid-19 studies involving ivermectin, a long-used antiparasitic that some claim can be effective at treating or preventing the viral illness. In a new article this week, they argue that the research into ivermectin has been plagued by widespread fraud and lax oversight by other researchers. The best way to prevent similar issues moving forward, they say, is to impose stricter standards in general on how data is collected and re-analyzed by scientists conducting reviews of the evidence ...
... In a new article published this week in Nature Medicine, scientists from the UK, Australia, Sweden, and the U.S. highlight two of these suspect studies that they’ve brought attention to in the past: a purported clinical trial in Egypt that has now been pulled from the preprint server where it was released amid allegations of plagiarism and suspect data, and another in Iran that found a benefit in reducing mortality among hospitalized patients. The Iran study may have failed to properly randomize participants to the treatment and control groups, an important step for obtaining valid results ...
... these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous other ivermectin studies they’ve found where even a cursory look at the data reveals glaring errors, conflicting details, and numbers so impossible that they were likely faked, the group argues. Not only are these studies bad science, they add, they’ve actively harming people ...
... as things stand now, the state of ivermectin research is shameful. “This research has created undue confidence in the use of ivermectin as a prophylactic or treatment for covid-19, has usurped other research agendas, and probably resulted in inappropriate treatment or substandard care of patients,” the authors wrote.
https://gizmodo.com/ivermectin-research-has-a-big-fraud-problem-scientists-1847730533
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