Charles Piller

How Private Equity Oversees the Ethics of Drug Research

Compelling look at private equity and IRBs - the panels that approve and oversee human testing of drugs www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/h...

Thanks Jessie -- and thanks for your longstanding support and help!

I’m equally grateful for the determined and courageous image sleuths who provided key findings for my major stories – particularly Matthew chrag @elisabethbik.bsky.social @thatsregrettab1.bsky.social @mumumouse2.bsky.social
7/7

I’ve been fortunate that Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals, provides steadfast support for my journalism, and that of my Science colleagues. 6/7

This work would have been impossible without the skill and encouragement of my editors – Tim Appenzeller, @john-travis.bsky.social @kellyservick.bsky.social
– and others on the talented Science staff. 5/7

I’m gratified that @sciencewriters.org and the judges–leaders in science and medical writing–agree that journalists must speak hard truths about research to benefit patients and foster progress, even amid the sabotage of scientific institutions by federal officials. 4/7

The prize was not for my book, “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s,” but recognizes key stories that helped frame that larger narrative. My goal: Help readers see that the process of discovery, which I revere, depends on honest science. 3/7

It’s humbling to follow the illustrious journalists who have won in past years. Many of my articles exposed and helped correct misconduct in research associated with Alzheimer’s disease. 2/7

I’m deeply honored to have been named as the recipient of the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. It recognizes my work on scientific integrity for Science Magazine over the last five years. 1/7 tinyurl.com/zz54fzyr

Whose papers have an edge at Science? In unusual study, journal looks in the mirror Confidential data show being in the U.S., at a prestigious institution, and in a large team all may help

Whose papers have an edge at Science? In unusual study, journal looks in the mirror | Science | AAAS via @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

(PDF) A Catalyst for Urgent Dialogue and Reform PDF | Book Review of C. Piller (2025). Doctored. Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s, Atria, One Signal Publishers, New York,... | Find, read and cite all the research you n...

Scientific fraud and research misconduct are not only the result of personal ambition but also of endemic and systemic causes: See my review of @charlespiller.bsky.social “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s.”
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
🧪 #AcademicSky

Exclusive: Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider - re amazing detective work by @thatsregrettab1.bsky.social retractionwatch.com/2025/09/18/c...

Exclusive: Journal bans drug safety database papers as they flood the literature celafon/iStockPhoto Starting around 2023, a curious trend took hold in papers on drug safety monitoring. The number of articles published on an individual drug and its link to specific adverse even…

Exclusive: Journal bans drug safety database papers as they flood the literature via @katetravis.bsky.social retractionwatch.com/2025/09/16/e...

Many thanks to @gjvanbussel.bsky.social for “A Catalyst for Urgent Dialogue and Reform” – his astute, thorough, and fair-minded review of my book “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s.” vbds.nl/2025/09/15/a...

A Question of Conflicts at America's Top Pediatrician Association How far should the AAP go to disclose potential conflicts of interest in guidelines and other official recommendations?

Conflicts at Top US Pediatrician Assoc - as actual and alleged conflicts are being weaponized to undermine vaccination, this story cogently argues that medical associations like AAP must set a better example on transparency and conflicts undark.org/2025/09/04/c... via @undarkmag

Correction to: Accumulation of oligomer-prone α-synuclein exacerbates synaptic and neuronal degeneration in vivo Edward Rockenstein, Silke Nuber, Cassia R. Overk, Kiren Ubhi, Michael Mante, Christina Patrick, Anthony Adame, Margarita Trejo-Morales, Juan Gerez, Paola P

Another elaborate correction by Eliezer Masliah et al admitting image anomalies ID’d originally by @mumumouse2.bsky.social prior to my @science.org investigation of Masliah: errors in images, but not to worry, they were only “for illustration purposes.” academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Congrats to @lonnibesancon.bsky.social ‬ ‪@gcabanac.cpesr.fr and colleagues on 2025 Best JASIST Paper Award (and for donating the award money to the Bik Science integrity fund) www.asist.org/2025/08/13/s...

How the Pharma Industry Botched Alzheimer’s Treatment Journalist Charles Piller has exposed a pattern of shoddy and even fraudulent practices in Alzheimer’s research. It shows the drug research system needs serious reform, but health secretary Robert F. ...

Thanks to Michael Chanon for a thoughtful review of my book, "Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's" jacobin.com/2025/08/big-...

Making Your Research Free May Cost You - @stephaniemlee.bsky.social takes a close look at the the growing crisis in prohibitively high research publication fees www.chronicle.com/article/maki...

AI tool labels more than 1000 journals for ‘questionable,’ possibly shady practices New algorithm could help scientists avoid publishing in shady titles

AI tool labels more than 1000 journals for ‘questionable,’ possibly shady practices | Science | AAAS via @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Tackling paper mills requires us to prevent future contamination and clean up the past – the case of the journal Bioengineered Taylor & Francis journal Bioengineered has been targeted by paper mills. Our goal is to identify problematic articles published in Bioengineered during the period 2010 to 2024. Dimensions was used ...

Impressive look at the impact of paper mills on one journal, by Rene Aquarius, @elisabethbik.bsky.social, David Bimler, Morten Oksvold, @thatsregrettab1.bsky.social h/t @retractionwatch.com www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Another Othman Ghribi retraction.

This shouldn’t take 3 years, @elsevierconnect.bsky.social 😐

pubpeer.com/publications...

H/T Matt Schrag, @charlespiller.bsky.social @elisabethbik.bsky.social, but a sad story.

Reporters should bookmark this primer from a true pro.

In Guinea, the United States helped beat back malaria. Now, the disease is set to soar Foreign aid cuts are expected to cause a rise in malaria cases and deaths across sub-Saharan Africa

In Guinea, the United States helped beat back malaria. Now, the disease is set to soar | Science | AAAS important story on the extreme human costs of new US policies via @martinenserink.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Compelling analysis of the use of blood biomarkers in Alzheimer's diagnosis and treatment, by Willem Van Gool and colleagues www.bmj.com/content/390/...

A do-or-die moment for the scientific enterprise Reflecting on our paper “The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly”

Today, our article "The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly" is finally published in PNAS. I hope that it proves to be a wake-up-call for the whole scientific community.

reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...

Elusive Cures A neuroscientist’s bold proposal for tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time—brain and mental illnesses

Celebrating UK publication day!

What will it take to understand the most formidable brain disorders, from Alzheimer's to depression?

The book is intended for both general readers and scientists. The feedback thus far has been positive, and heartwarming 💙.

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Scientific fraud has become an ‘industry,’ alarming analysis finds Sophisticated global networks are infiltrating journals to publish fake papers

Scientific fraud has become an ‘industry,’ alarming analysis finds | Science | AAAS via @cathleenogrady.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

Civilian scientists are helping make Ukraine’s military more tech savvy War with Russia is reshaping research on everything from exotic drones to trauma care

Civilian scientists are helping make Ukraine’s military more tech savvy | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

The Columbia deal is a tragic wake-up call Last week, Columbia University entered an agreement with the US government to restore federal funding for research in exchange for actions by the university to address complaints by the Trump administ...

The Columbia deal is a tragic wake-up call | Science via Holden Thorp www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...