This could be it for the Nordic Cochrane Centre.
“I regret to inform you that I have been expelled from membership in the Cochrane Collaboration by the favourable vote of 6 of the 13 members of the Governing Board. No clear reasoned justification has been given for my expulsion aside from accusing me of causing “disrepute” for the organization.”
Peter Gøtzsche on A moral governance crisis: the growing lack of democratic collaboration and scientific pluralism in Cochrane
Or at least for Peter Gøtzsche and his association with the Cochrane Collaboration, which he co-founded in 1993.
I’m not sure how he thinks that there was no clear justification for his being expelled though.
Crisis at the Nordic Cochrane Centre
Most folks understand why Peter Gøtzsche was expelled from the Cochrane Collaboration…
They remember that he recently published a poorly done analysis in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, The Cochrane HPV vaccine review was incomplete and ignored important evidence of bias that was critical of a Cochrane Review on the HPV vaccine, Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomaviruses to prevent cervical cancer and its precursors, which concluded that the HPV vaccines work and that they are safe.
While Gøtzsche’s analysis prompted the Cochrane Collaboration to initiate an investigation, they concluded that his analysis “substantially overstated its criticisms” and that the allegations were “not warranted and provided an inaccurate and sensationalized report of their analysis.”
Is that it?
Nope.
Many people are also familiar with the Nordic Cochrane Centre because of their involvement in continued complaints about the HPV vaccine. Complaints that were not approved by the Cochrane Collaboration and that were not an official Cochrane viewpoint!
“…we highlight here how academic colleagues, under the purported banner of a respected authority, raise concerns about the HPV vaccine but they cite an evidence base of small and poor quality studies and ignore the extensive wealth of global literature that vividly demonstrate the excellent efficacy and safety record of the vaccine.”
Head et al on Inadvisable anti-vaccination sentiment: Human Papilloma Virus immunisation falsely under the microscope
Complaints that had already been investigated and dismissed by the European Medicines Agency and refuted by many other studies.
“This week at its meeting in Edinburgh, Cochrane’s Governing Board considered, as planned, the findings of an independent review and additional complaints related to the conduct of a Member. The Board’s conclusion was communicated to the individual concerned and is part of an ongoing process. The Co-Chairs of the Board will provide further details once this process is complete.
Following this, four Board members (Gerald Gartlehner, David Hammerstein Mintz, Joerg Meerpohl and Nancy Santesso) decided to resign as Cochrane trustees with immediate effect.”
Message from the Governing Board
Unfortunately, Gøtzsche’s being expelled led to others leaving the Cochrane Governing Board, including two appointed trustees who volunteered to step down to to comply with Cochrane’s Articles of Association.
We can hope that this is the end of the matter, as Cochrane will soon have an election for new board members.
Will he be kept on at the Nordic Cochrane Centre, which he founded? Will the Nordic Cochrane Centre be allowed to keep ‘Cochrane’ in their name?
The Nordic Cochrane Centre is primarily funded by the Danish Government, and what do they get besides all of the anti-HPV vaccine stuff?
“Antidepressant drugs are another major killer that people could do well without.”
Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death
Peter Gøtzsche seems to be against cancer screening, psychiatric drugs, and thinks that Big Pharma has corrupted health care. Is that the “plurality of opinions, views, and perspectives” that folks want at Cochrane or anywhere else in medicine?
Unfortunately, I bet this isn’t the last that we have heard from him.
More on the Crisis at the Nordic Cochrane Centre
- Message from the Governing Board
- A moral governance crisis: the growing lack of democratic collaboration and scientific pluralism in Cochrane
- Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death
- Nordic Cochrane Centre’s Director in the limelight
- Cochrane’s Editor in Chief responds to BMJ EBM article criticizing HPV review
- Cochrane’s Editor in Chief responds to a BMJ Evidence – Based Medicine article criticizing the Cochrane Review of HPV vaccines
- Cochrane editors hit back at criticisms of HPV vaccine review
- The HPV Vaccine: A Critique of a Critique of a Meta-Analysis
- EMA response to Nordic Cochrane letter on HPV vaccines – maladministration
- EMA response to Nordic Cochrane letter on HPV vaccines – conflicts of interest
- HPV vaccine systematic review – anti-vaxxers and Cochrane
- Gøtzsche’s quixotic antiscreening campaign: nonscientific and contrary to Cochrane principles
- Cochrane distances itself from controversial views on psychiatric drugs
- Aluminum toxicity in vaccines – here we go again with bad science
- Are one in three breast cancers really overdiagnosed and overtreated?
- An Obvious Response to “Psychiatry Gone Astray”
- Inadvisable anti-vaccination sentiment: Human Papilloma Virus immunisation falsely under the microscope.
- Screening for Breast Cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement
- Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Screening: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis to Update the 2009 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation
- Harms of Breast Cancer Screening: Systematic Review to Update the 2009 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation
- CDC – Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines for Women
- Mammograms
Last Updated on September 16, 2018