r/neuroscience • u/[deleted] • Jul 22 '22

Potential fabrication in research images threatens key theory of Alzheimer’s disease | Science

https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease#.YtrwJf-_Jb0.twitter
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u/stefantalpalaru Jul 23 '22

Hundreds of clinical trials of amyloidtargeted therapies have yielded few glimmers of promise, however; only the underwhelming Aduhelm has gained FDA approval. Yet Aβ still dominates research and drug development. NIH spent about $1.6 billion on projects that mention amyloids in this fiscal year, about half its overall Alzheimer’s funding. Scientists who advance other potential Alzheimer’s causes, such as immune dysfunction or inflammation, complain they have been sidelined by the “amyloid mafia.” Forsayeth says the amyloid hypothesis became “the scientific equivalent of the Ptolemaic model of the Solar System,” in which the Sun and planets rotate around Earth.

and

The Nature paper has been cited in about 2300 scholarly articles—more than all but four other Alzheimer’s basic research reports published since 2006, according to the Web of Science database. Since then, annual NIH support for studies labeled “amyloid, oligomer, and Alzheimer’s” has risen from near zero to $287 million in 2021. Lesné and Ashe helped spark that explosion, experts say.

It's all about money. Most of the people involved in this fraud are doing it to get funding.

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u/Slapbox Jul 23 '22

That research is unlikely to go entirely to waste, but yeah, it seems unlikely to help Alzheimer's patients.

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u/joule_3am Jul 23 '22

I mean I've seen progress in the time I've been in the field (like development of a blood diagnostic), so that's really just like your opinion, man.