Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's with Charles Piller

In this episode of Inquiring Minds, host Indre Viskontas speaks with investigative journalist Charles Piller about the troubling intersection of scientific misconduct and Alzheimer’s research.
Piller’s latest book, Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s, explores how small scientific missteps-sometimes deliberate, sometimes unintended-can snowball into billion-dollar mistakes that shape the direction of medical research. Through meticulous investigation, he uncovers how manipulated data and unchecked biases have influenced the dominant amyloid hypothesis, affecting decades of funding and failed drug trials.
They discuss:
• The reproducibility crisis in science and how manipulated images in research can distort entire fields of study.
• The role of scientific funding agencies like the NIH in incentivizing specific lines of research, sometimes at the expense of alternative theories.
• The controversial history of the amyloid hypothesis and how it has shaped Alzheimer’s drug development despite mounting evidence of its limitations.
• The role of whistleblowers and image sleuths in uncovering fraudulent research and holding the scientific establishment accountable.
Piller also highlights promising new avenues for Alzheimer’s research, including viral and inflammatory theories of the disease, as well as ongoing clinical trials investigating GLP-1 inhibitors-a class of drugs originally developed for diabetes and weight loss.
Despite the challenges, Piller remains hopeful that a deeper commitment to scientific integrity and a broader approach to Alzheimer’s research could pave the way for real breakthroughs.
Listen in to gain a deeper understanding of how scientific misconduct, funding biases, and systemic pressures influence the quest for cures-and what we can do to ensure science remains a tool for truth.
Doctored is available now at booksellers everywhere.
Links:
Get Charles Piller’s new book on Amazon: rb.gy/6a10e7
Connect with Charles on LinkedIn: rb.gy/bjx9bq
and X: x.com/cpiller
Inquiring Minds Homepage: inquiring.show
Support the show: patreon.com/inquiringminds