Daisymay
Senior Member
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This is the letter of complaint about the PACE Trial that Professor Hooper has sent to the MRC by Special Delivery, which means that it has a traceable tracking number so that delivery can be confirmed.
From Malcolm Hooper Ph.D.,B.Pharm.,C.Chem.,MRIC
Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
School of Sciences
Fleming Building
Wharncliffe Street
University of Sunderland
SUNDERLAND SR2 3SD
Chief Scientific Adviser to the Gulf Veterans' Association
President: the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, NGVFA, (2002)
30th March 2010
Dear Dr Roberts,
re: MRC PACE Trial
You will doubtless be aware from Lord Drayson (the Minister with responsibility for the MRC) that on 11th February 2010 I lodged a formal complaint with him about the PACE Trial (reference 2010/0013270POLD).
There were three reasons for going directly to him instead of to you in the first instance, as would have been customary:
1. In response to a formal complaint made in November 2004 by an alpha-rated former MRC grant-holder, and despite the involvement of the then Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury of Turville (reference SAMP001/040728) and Dr Rudi Vis MP, the MRC External Communications Manager, Elizabeth Mitchell, had already made plain that the MRC is not interested in considering complaints about the PACE Trial.
2. By lodging a complaint with the MRC Clinical Trials Manager, we are mindful of the fact that the person intimately involved with the PACE Trial, Professor Simon Wessely, is in charge of the PACE Clinical Trial Unit.
3. Given that the MRC is co-funding the PACE Trial, inviting the MRC to consider this substantial complaint would seem to be inviting the MRC to be both judge and jury in its own court hardly consistent with the most elementary standards of independence and justice.
However, following the advice of Lord Drayson, a copy of "Magical Medicine: how to make a disease disappear" is enclosed, which sets out our concerns in detail.
Many members of the international research community are monitoring the PACE Trial particularly in the light of
-The total failure to engage with the vast body of significant biomedical evidence about the nature of ME/CFS contained in more that 4,000 published, peer-reviewed research papers.
- The misleading and contradictory content of the Trial manuals demonstrating the apparent coercion, and exploitation of patients.
- The seriously flawed and inadequate science that under pins the Trial.
We have taken much time and great care in compiling the evidence presented in Magical Medicine and I look forward to receiving your reasoned response to our legitimate concerns expressed therein.
I would, therefore, appreciate an informed and considered reply and not the standard and dismissive MRC proforma letter that has been sent to many people who have already written expressing their concerns about the inadequacy of the PACE Trial.
Yours sincerely
Malcolm Hooper
Enc. Magical Medicine: how to make a disease disappear.
Dr Morven Roberts
Clinical Trials Manager
MRC
20 Park Crescent
London
W1B 1AL
From Malcolm Hooper Ph.D.,B.Pharm.,C.Chem.,MRIC
Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
School of Sciences
Fleming Building
Wharncliffe Street
University of Sunderland
SUNDERLAND SR2 3SD
Chief Scientific Adviser to the Gulf Veterans' Association
President: the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, NGVFA, (2002)
30th March 2010
Dear Dr Roberts,
re: MRC PACE Trial
You will doubtless be aware from Lord Drayson (the Minister with responsibility for the MRC) that on 11th February 2010 I lodged a formal complaint with him about the PACE Trial (reference 2010/0013270POLD).
There were three reasons for going directly to him instead of to you in the first instance, as would have been customary:
1. In response to a formal complaint made in November 2004 by an alpha-rated former MRC grant-holder, and despite the involvement of the then Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury of Turville (reference SAMP001/040728) and Dr Rudi Vis MP, the MRC External Communications Manager, Elizabeth Mitchell, had already made plain that the MRC is not interested in considering complaints about the PACE Trial.
2. By lodging a complaint with the MRC Clinical Trials Manager, we are mindful of the fact that the person intimately involved with the PACE Trial, Professor Simon Wessely, is in charge of the PACE Clinical Trial Unit.
3. Given that the MRC is co-funding the PACE Trial, inviting the MRC to consider this substantial complaint would seem to be inviting the MRC to be both judge and jury in its own court hardly consistent with the most elementary standards of independence and justice.
However, following the advice of Lord Drayson, a copy of "Magical Medicine: how to make a disease disappear" is enclosed, which sets out our concerns in detail.
Many members of the international research community are monitoring the PACE Trial particularly in the light of
-The total failure to engage with the vast body of significant biomedical evidence about the nature of ME/CFS contained in more that 4,000 published, peer-reviewed research papers.
- The misleading and contradictory content of the Trial manuals demonstrating the apparent coercion, and exploitation of patients.
- The seriously flawed and inadequate science that under pins the Trial.
We have taken much time and great care in compiling the evidence presented in Magical Medicine and I look forward to receiving your reasoned response to our legitimate concerns expressed therein.
I would, therefore, appreciate an informed and considered reply and not the standard and dismissive MRC proforma letter that has been sent to many people who have already written expressing their concerns about the inadequacy of the PACE Trial.
Yours sincerely
Malcolm Hooper
Enc. Magical Medicine: how to make a disease disappear.
Dr Morven Roberts
Clinical Trials Manager
MRC
20 Park Crescent
London
W1B 1AL
