Peter C. Gøtzsche
Peter Christian Gøtzsche (born 26 November 1949) is a Danish physician, medical researcher, and former leader of the Nordic Cochrane Center at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a co-founder of the
Biography
After completing high school, Gøtzsche studied science graduating with a Master of Science in biology and chemistry in 1974.[4] He worked briefly as a teacher. In 1975 he took a job in the pharmaceutical industry as a drug representative for Astra AB; several months later he became a product manager.[5] In 1977 Gøtzsche took a position at Astra-Syntex and was responsible for clinical trials. While at Astra-Syntex he started to study medicine and graduated as a physician in 1984.[4]
Gøtzsche worked at hospitals in Copenhagen 1984–1995. He co-founded with Sir Iain Chalmers and about 80 other investigators The Cochrane Collaboration in 1993. The same year he established The Nordic Cochrane Centre. In 2010, Gøtzsche was named Professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis at the University of Copenhagen.[4] This professorship was later retracted from the university.[6] In 2017, he was elected a member of the Governing Board of Cochrane. In September 2018 he was expelled from Cochrane Collaboration. In 2019 Gøtzsche founded a new Institute for Scientific Freedom, whose goal is "to preserve honesty and integrity in science".[7]
Research and reviews
Among his research findings are that placebo has surprisingly little effect[8][9][10] and that many meta-analyses may have data extraction errors.[11] Gøtzsche and his coauthors have at times criticized the research methods and interpretations of other scientists, e.g. in meta-analysis of placebo.[12][13]
Gøtzsche has commented on meta-analysis,[14] and the editorial independence of medical journals.[15] He has written about issues surrounding
Critique of mammography screening
Gøtzsche has been critical of screening for breast cancer using mammography, arguing that it cannot be justified; his critique has caused controversy.[18] His critique stems from a meta-analysis he did on mammography screening studies and published as Is screening for breast cancer with mammography justifiable? in The Lancet in 2000.[19] In it he discarded 6 out of 8 studies arguing their randomization was inadequate.
In 2006 a paper by Gøtzsche on mammography screening was electronically published in the European Journal of Cancer ahead of print.[20]
The journal later removed the paper completely from the journal website without any formal retraction.[21]
The paper was later published in
In 2012 his book Mammography Screening: Truth, Lies and Controversy was published.[24] In 2013 his book Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Healthcare was published.[25]
Critique of reviews of HPV vaccine
At the behest of the Danish Health and Medicines Authorities the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was charged to review data in women concerning use of HPV vaccines and the possible development of rare side effects, namely complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). EMA's review was issued in November 2015 and found no causal relationship.[26][27] Louise Brinth, a Danish physician who had published observational studies on POTS, subsequently critiqued the EMA review in a detailed rebuttal.[28] Gøtzsche supported her and issued a formal complaint to the EMA criticizing their report in May 2018.[29]
Gøtzsche et al. also found faults with a 2018 Cochrane review of the HPV vaccine.[30] The review had judged the vaccine as effective and did not find an increased risk of serious adverse effects.[31]
Expulsion from Cochrane
Gøtzsche, who had been elected to the Governing Board in 2017,[32] was expelled from the Board and the organization after a 6 to 5 vote of the 13-member board at the annual meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland in September 2018.[33] The Board announced the step on September 26 expelling Gøtzsche because of an "ongoing, consistent pattern of disruptive and inappropriate behaviours ..., taking place over a number of years, which undermined this culture and were detrimental to the charity’s work, reputation and members."[2]
Gøtzsche, critical of the pharmaceutical industry and what he sees as its influence on medicine, expressed concern about "growing top-down authoritarian culture and an increasingly commercial business model" at Cochrane that "threaten the scientific, moral and social objectives of the organization."[32] He stated that "Cochrane no longer lives up to its core values of collaboration, openness, transparency, accountability, democracy and keeping the drug industry at arm’s length."[34] After the expulsion, four members of the Board resigned and two had to leave to restore a balance between appointed and elected members, throwing the organization into turmoil.[33]
Gerd Antes of Cochrane Deutschland interpreted the situation as a "governance crisis" and called for "the strict orientation on the objectives and fundamental principles of Cochrane" naming "(s)cientific rigour, knowledge with minimal bias, maximum trust and consistent safeguarding against interest-driven influence on the evidence" as primary.[35]
Books
- Peter C. Gøtzsche; Henrik R. Wulff (2007). Rational Diagnosis and Treatment: Evidence-based Clinical Decision-making (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470723685.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2012). Mammography Screening: Truth, Lies and Controversy. Radcliffe Publishing. ISBN 9781846195853.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2013). ISBN 9781846198847.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2015). Deadly Psychiatry and Organised Denial. People's Press. ISBN 978-87-7159-623-6.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2019). Death of a whistleblower and Cochrane's moral collapse. People's Press. ASIN B07N927GXC.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2019). Survival in an Overmedicated World: Look Up the Evidence Yourself. People's Press. ASIN B07R5TPV9C.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2020). Vaccines: Truth, Lies and Controversy. People's Press. ASIN B0848FPKNP.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (2020). Mental Health Survival Kit and Withdrawal from Psychiatric Drugs. People's Press. ASIN B08HM7QGFZ.
Reports
- Peter C. Gøtzsche (14 Dec 2012). Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry is common, serious and repetitive (PDF) (Report). Nordic Cochrane Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
- Short version of the above: Gotzsche, P. C. (2012). "Big pharma often commits corporate crime, and this must be stopped". BMJ. 345 (dec14 3): e8462. S2CID 29898648.
- Short version of the above: Gotzsche, P. C. (2012). "Big pharma often commits corporate crime, and this must be stopped". BMJ. 345 (dec14 3): e8462.
See also
- Bad Pharma – book
- Ben Goldacre
- David Healy (psychiatrist)
- Irving Kirsch
- John Ioannidis
- Nancy Olivieri
References
- S2CID 81243500.
- ^ a b Cochrane's Governing Board (September 26, 2018). "Statement from Cochrane's Governing Board – Wednesday 26th September 2018". Cochrane Nordic. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- ^ "Peter Gøtzsche teams with an antivaxxer to exaggerate the harms of COVID-19 vaccines | Science-Based Medicine". sciencebasedmedicine.org. 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
- ^ a b c Archived biography of Nordic Cochrane
- ISBN 978-1846198847.
- ^ Lund, Kristian. "Så røg Peter Gøtzsches professorat". Sundhedspolitisk Tidsskrift (in Danish). Retrieved 2021-09-10.
- S2CID 58584288.
- PMID 11816328.
- PMID 20091554.
- S2CID 21244034.
- PMID 17652297. There is an error in the article. Comments:
- Hugh McGuire; Melissa Edmonds; Jonathan Price (2007). "Data Discrepancies in Meta-analyses That Use Standardized Mean Differences". PMID 18029827.
- Peter C. Gøtzsche, Britta Tendal (November 2007). "Data Discrepancies in Meta-analyses That Use Standardized Mean Differences—Reply". .
- Hugh McGuire; Melissa Edmonds; Jonathan Price (2007). "Data Discrepancies in Meta-analyses That Use Standardized Mean Differences".
- PMID 16549252.
- PMID 17279532.
- PMID 10977820.
- ^ Peter C. Gøtzsche (2008). "Ytringsfrihed og redaktionel uafhængighed: Fire fyringer og en kafkask proces" (PDF). Ugeskrift for Læger. 170 (18): 1537. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-07.
- PMID 19192943.
- ^ Gotzsche, Peter (30 April 2014). "Psychiatric drugs are doing us more harm than good". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- New York Times.
- S2CID 32143570.
- PMID 16530407.
- ^ Kerry Grens (December 2006). "Mammography article withdrawal sparks dispute". The Scientist. [permanent dead link]
- PMID 16530407. Archived from the originalon June 21, 2007.
- S2CID 54366146.
- ISBN 978-1-84619-585-3. Archived from the originalon 2012-05-27.
- ISBN 9781846198847.
- ^ HPV vaccines: EMA confirms evidence does not support that they cause CRPS or POTS, 5. November 2015
- ^ HPV vaccines: EMA confirms evidence does not support that they cause CRPS or POTS. (PDF; 94 kB) 20. November 2015
- ^ Louise Brinth: Responsum to Assessment Report on HPV-vaccines released by EMA November 26th 2015., online (PDF; 1,3 MB)
- ^ Nordic Cochrane Center: Complaint to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) over maladministration at the EMA (PDF) , vom 26. Mai 2016.
- ^ Jørgensen L, Gøtzsche PC, Jefferson T.: The Cochrane HPV vaccine review was incomplete and ignored important evidence of bias. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine 2018; 23, S. 165-168, DOI:10.1136/bmjebm-2018-111012
- ^ Arbyn M, Xu L, Simoens C, Martin-Hirsch PPL: Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomaviruses to prevent cervical cancer and its precursors. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD009069. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD009069.pub3.
- ^ a b Peter Gøtzsche (September 17, 2018). "A letter from Peter C Gøtzsche (this is an open letter initially published by Nordic Cochrane)". Nexusnewsfeed. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ S2CID 81578757. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- The British Medical Journal. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
- ^ Gerd Antes (September 25, 2018). "Cochrane in the media: Explanation of contradictions and conflicts". Cochrane Deutschland. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
External links
- Institute for Scientific Freedom official
- Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime official
- Broken Medical Science videoblog, official
- Peter C. Gøtzsche official