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This chapter explores the issue of untrustworthy clinical trials in medicine, highlighting the work of anesthetist John Carlyle who discovered that 44% of the 500 studies he analyzed over three years contained flawed data. These flawed and unreliable trials, referred to as 'zombie trials,' expose potential data falsification or incompetence by the authors.

Investigations suggest that, in some fields, at least one-quarter of clinical trials might be problematic or even entirely made up. Faked or unreliable trials are dangerous, as they could end up being included in the reviews that help inform clinical treatments. However, the extent of the problem in unclear, and many researchers urge stronger scrutiny.

This is an audio version of our Feature: Medicine is plagued by untrustworthy clinical trials. How many studies are faked or flawed?

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