‘You’re a disgusting old fart neoliberal hypocrite’ – scientists in furious row over ME study A furious row has erupted between scientists after a medical journal dedicated its entire August edition to ripping apart a […]

A furious row has erupted between scientists after a medical journal dedicated its entire August edition to ripping apart a “deeply flawed” £5m taxpayer-funded study investigating treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

The dispute led to three editors at the Journal of Health Psychology (JHP), who are all scientists, resigning. Professor George Davey Smith resigned before this month’s issue of the journal, which criticised the “extraordinary sum” of the study, was published. It is unsure how long the clinical epidemiologist, based at Bristol University, had been on the board for before leaving his post.

He said the journal displayed “unacceptable one-sidedness”, but an upset co-editor of the journal hit back. James Coyne told Professor Davey Smith to “f*** off” for his “attempted bullying”, leaked emails obtained by The Times show.

The i newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

“You had long been one of my intellectual heroes but in your attempt to bully me you moved from a Trotskyite in your younger days to a disgusting old fart neoliberal hypocrite.” Email from Professor James Coyne to Professor George Davey Smith

Professor Coyne also called him a “disgusting old fart neoliberal hypocrite” – despite once considering him a “hero” and referring to Professor Davey Smith as a “Trotskyite” in his younger days.

The unsavoury affair concerns a landmark study called the Pace trial, published in The Lancet in 2011. It claimed that the 17 million people worldwide – 250,000 of whom are in the UK – suffering from CFS could improve their condition with simple lifestyle changes.

Although it formed the basis for treating the condition, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), the findings have long been ridiculed by sufferers, as it sparked a debate that the condition is psychological rather than physiological.

What is the Pace trial? The PACE Trial – short for Pacing, graded Activity, and Cognitive behaviour therapy; a randomised Evaluation – was a large-scale trial of treatments for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). It was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Department of Health for England, Scottish Chief Scientist Office, and – apparently uniquely for a clinical trial – the Department for Work and Pensions. It cost £5m and is the most expensive piece of research into ME/CFS ever conducted. The study compared standardised specialist medical care (SMC) alone to SMC plus Adaptive Pacing Therapy (APT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), or Graded Exercise Therapy (GET). The experimenters hypothesised that the CBT and GET groups would do best, and reported that this is what the trial’s results showed, but the claim has proved controversial. The PACE trial dominates clinical policy in the UK and other countries, in both government funded health care and private medical insurance.

Professor Coyne, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told Professor Davey Smith: “I have become sick and tired of you badgering me backchannel. You had long been one of my intellectual heroes but in your attempt to bully me you moved from a Trotskyite in your younger days to a disgusting old fart neoliberal hypocrite.”

Professor Jane Ogden, from Surrey University, and another unnamed editor left alongside Professor Davey Smith following the news of the publication.

Mr Coyne’s email continued: ‘Jane Ogden… became so threatening when I offered a critique of her paper with which her chosen Pace fan agreed, f*** off.

“Let’s get all this backchannel bullshit into the open, you ol’ sleazebag.”

Last ditch attempt

In a post on his blog, Professor Coyne wrote: “There was a last ditch attempt to block publication of the special issue by a powerful but unknown PACE trial advocate… A weaselly coward suggested papers weren’t properly peer reviewed and that the special issue should therefore not be published. That of course was nonsense.”

ICYMI: Last ditch attempt to block publication of special issue of Journal of Health Psychology was foiled. https://t.co/D42575v3EB — James C.Coyne (@CoyneoftheRealm) August 1, 2017

He said threats were made to Sage Publications, the publisher of Journal of Health Psychology, which expressed a reluctance to go forward as planned.

“As often happens with these kind of pressures, we weren’t told the identity of the complainant. It was clear that whoever s/he was, this person was powerful in being able to grind to a halt of making the special issue available, complete with the introductory editorial that was not previously available,” Prossor Coyne wrote.

“The many wrongs committed by psychiatry and medicine to the ME/CFS community can only be righted when the Pace trial is ultimately seen for what it is: a disgraceful confidence trick to reduce patient compensation payments and benfits.” David Marks, Editor, Journal of Health Psychology

Professor Ogden told The Times: “I just thought it was looking like a one-sided and very biased witch-hunt so I resigned. I felt I was getting caught up in something that was not very balanced or scientific.”

David Marks, editor of the JHP, said the three former board members carried too much baggage. He defended the publication of the critical edition, claiming the Pace study had been fraught with errors. Dr Marks hinted that the results were being unfairly used by the Government to cut disability benefit pay outs.

“The many wrongs committed by psychiatry and medicine to the ME/CFS community can only be righted when the Pace trial is ultimately seen for what it is: a disgraceful confidence trick to reduce patient compensation payments and benfits,” he said.