1 of 27

Digging into Health & Medicine

How to read, understand and report on medical research
Exposing industry interference and conflict of interest before and during COVID-19

Fabiola Torres

November 2021

2 of 27

Launched in 2019, Salud Con Lupa (“Health with a Magnifying Glass” in English) is a digital media organization dedicated to investigative public health journalism and fact-checking.

In 2020, Salud Con Lupa’s team joined the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and Latam Chequea Network.

The Poynter Institute selected Salud Con Lupa to develop the Lupa Colectiva, a collaborative digital tool designed to help journalists and scientists work together to analyze scientific evidence and health data.

3 of 27

A cross-border network that investigates� health issues across Latin America

Scientists and reporters are drowning in COVID-19 papers

4 of 27

Trouble in the scientific literature�

Scientific studies with poor methodology and inaccurate findings are exacerbating a COVID-19 misinformation crisis-

5 of 27

Ivermectin: How false science created a Covid 'miracle' drug�

More than a third of 26 major trials of the drug for use on Covid have serious errors or signs of potential fraud. None of the rest show convincing evidence of ivermectin's effectiveness.

For some years ivermectin has been a vital anti-parasitic medicine used to treat humans and animals.

But during the pandemic there has been a clamour from some proponents for using the drug for something else - to fight Covid and prevent deaths.

The health authorities in the US, UK and EU have found there is insufficient evidence for using the drug against Covid, but thousands of supporters, many of them anti-vaccine activists, have continued to vigorously campaign for its use.

Campaigners for the drug point to a number of scientific studies and often claim this evidence is being ignored or covered up. But a review by a group of independent scientists has cast serious doubt on that body of research.

More than a third of 26 major trials of the drug for use on Covid have serious errors or signs of potential fraud. None of the rest show convincing evidence of ivermectin's effectiveness.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58170809

6 of 27

7 of 27

The hype around ivermectin is driven by some studies where the effect size for ivermectin is frankly not credible, and this has driven the conclusions in other reviews. The study with a huge effect has now been retracted as fake.

8 of 27

9 of 27

��Dubious marketers are exploiting new technologies to cash in on pseudoscience��

The phenomenon of exploiting an emergency for profit is nothing new. This is particularly troubling when it comes to unproven treatments and diagnostics for COVID-19.

10 of 27

11 of 27

�Some advice for determining when a medical study is newsworthy — and true�

How to read, understand and report on medical research. At Salud con lupa, the team made a list of basic questions all reporters should ask when covering new research:

12 of 27

How does this study fit into the big picture?
How does it compare to other studies on the same issue?
Is it really new?
Who sponsored it?
How does it add to previous research?
What is the clinical relevance, if any, of the study.
How will this change a doctor's practice or the way a reader might choose to behave?
Does the study’s findings matter to readers right now, and, if so, how?

13 of 27

�How to avoid misinformation �in healthcare reporting? �

Reporters should always ask outside experts what the study's biggest weaknesses are and what the authors might have missed or left out. Questions include:

14 of 27

Does it confirm what was already understood?
Does it clarify an aspect not previously understood?
Does it contradict past findings? How much?
Does it contradict some but support others?
Does it replicate established findings or relatively new findings?
Basically, what did this area of research look like before this study came out, and how, if at all, does this study change or reinforce it?

15 of 27

�How do you determine if medical research is newsworthy? �

The most important question to consider in covering medical research is how it will affect readers' lives right now. That includes positive and negative possibilities, and it carries a great responsibility for the journalist.

Readers are going to want to know what to do with the information, and journalists have to consider how they might take information to heart.

16 of 27

An advice for evaluating the methodology of medical reports��

Journalists aren't expected to be experts in a specific field; however, they're expected to be experts in finding the folks who are the smartest, most critical, skeptical, knowledgeable and wise in that field, and asking them about the methodology.

Ask experts, “Was the study done appropriately?” “Any red flags?” “Any alternative explanations for findings?” “What are the biggest limitations?”

17 of 27

Exposing industry interference and conflict of interest before and during COVID-19

�

18 of 27

How companies are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic pretending their marketing through digital social media is ‘Humanitarian’ and that their products build immunity

19 of 27

Little is known about the interests of the doctors, scientists, and academics on whose advice the governments relies to manage the pandemic.

20 of 27

VACUNAGATE:

One troubling aspect of Peru’s vaccine distribution scandal was the early perception — even among some of the secret beneficiaries — that the deep conflicts of interest involved were normal and acceptable, or even sensible.

21 of 27

Following the donations and the contracts during the pandemic we identified big surprises.

22 of 27

An useful tool to follow the evidence about Covid-19 threatments

23 of 27

https://saludconlupa.com/comprueba/scientifically-proven/

24 of 27

In this special reporting project, we analyzed the 42 most commonly used covid-19 treatments. To conduct this analysis, we created seven classifications, ranging from “Standard treatment” to “unsupported by science”.

We developed these categorization levels to assess the appropriateness of the main covid-19 treatments up to this point in time. We update this information weekly as new scientific evidence becomes available.

�

25 of 27

26 of 27

27 of 27

THANKS

@saludconlupa

Saludconlupa.com