How a ‘cabal’ throttled progress in Alzheimer’s

For decades, the powers that be in Alzheimer’s disease research believed so strongly in one explanation for the disorder that they thwarted alternative ideas, according to dissenting scientists. And that dogmatic approach has meant spending billions of dollars over 30 years with no treatments to show for it.

In more than two dozen interviews with STAT’s Sharon Begley, scientists detailed the systematic silencing of heretical approaches to Alzheimer’s, which affected which studies got published in top journals, which scientists got funded, who got tenure, and who got speaking slots at reputation-buffing scientific conferences.

“Things shifted from a scientific inquiry into an almost religious belief system, where people stopped being skeptical or even questioning,” said Zaven Khachaturian, who used to direct external research at the NIH’s aging division.

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