The Price of Fraud in Alzheimer’s Research

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Credit…Illustration by Tamara Shopsin

To the Editor:

Re “Fraud Has Delayed a Cure for Alzheimer’s,” by Charles Piller (Opinion guest essay, Jan. 26):

Mr. Piller’s essay highlights a few high-profile cases of individuals accused of scientific misconduct in Alzheimer’s disease research. But in emphasizing a few bad actors, it diminishes the thousands of researchers who work tirelessly and with great integrity in this field.

The article minimizes research progress, including the recent Food and Drug Administration approvals of treatments that have been shown to significantly slow cognitive decline. This progress has also informed critical recommendations about brain health, improved diagnostic tests and influenced policies to better support dementia caregivers.

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are complex brain disorders. Progress requires patience, investment and the support of thousands of study participants committed to studies in the interest of finding treatments. Articles like this delay progress, damage public perceptions of science and risk causing major setbacks.

As the number of people in America with dementia skyrockets, it is important to highlight progress and the need for continued effort. We may be on the cusp of delaying or even preventing dementia. When we do, that will be the real legacy of Alzheimer’s science.

Doris Molina-Henry
San Diego
The author is a researcher at the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute in San Diego.

To the Editor:

My mother died of Alzheimer’s disease decades ago, and starting when she first became ill, I tried to follow the research. I read about the Nun Study, where a group of nuns donated their brains to Alzheimer’s research. Autopsies showed that some of them had amyloid plaques, though they’d never had dementia. Others with amyloid plaques as well as evidence of having had transient ischemic attacks did have dementia.