''Science-Based Medicine'' is a website and blog with articles covering issues in

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

, especially medical scams and practices. Founded in 2008, it is owned and operated by the New England Skeptical Society and run by

Steven Novella Steven Paul Novella (born July 29, 1964) is an American clinical neurologist and associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine. Novella is best known for his involvement in the skeptical movement as a host of '' The Skeptics' Guid ...

David Gorski David Henry Gorski is an American surgical oncologist, professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine, and a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, specializing in breast cancer surgery. He is an o ...

, and

Harriet Hall Harriet A. Hall (born July 2, 1945) is a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for '' Skeptic'' and ''Skeptical Inquirer''. She writes under the name ...

History

Started as a skeptically-based medical blog with five writers, ''Science-Based Medicine'' (SBM) launched on January 1, 2008.

, a clinical neurologist at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, and

were founding editors, along with

Mark Crislip Mark Alden Crislip (born April 25, 1957) is an infectious disease doctor in Portland, Oregon and chief of infectious diseases at Legacy Health hospital system. Crislip has generated three podcasts, ''QuackCast, PusCast, and Gobbet o' Pus.'' A wri ...

and Kimball Attwood. ''Science-Based Medicine'' is owned an operated by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS), where Novella, the long-standing executive editor of SBM, has also served as the president since inception. Gorski, a surgical oncologist at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

, serves as the managing editor for SBM. The ''Science-Based Medicine'' blog is affiliated with the Society for Science-Based Medicine (SfSBM), an opinionated education and advocacy group, that registered in 2014 as a Florida

nonprofit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation may ...

led by Mark Crislip. The SfSBM was later absorbed into the

Center for Inquiry The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 19 ...

in 2020, following a period of time where the society had merged with SBM. Other key contributors have included writer Paul Ingraham (2010 - 2016) and Wallace Sampson, an editor and regular contributor to SBM until his death in 2017.

Content and format

''Science-Based Medicine'' is a website in blog format that examines controversies in science and medicine, especially medical scams and practices. SBM is known for persistently challenging

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and ...

and for opposing university funding from advocates of

integrative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

. David Freedman, writing for ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' in 2011, described SBM as "an influential blog that has tirelessly gone after alternative medicine." Editorial staff say that the best medicine is based on scientific principles, includes prior plausibility, and is not based on

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, eviden ...

alone. Gorski, Novella, and Atwood have argued that science-based medicine differs in focus from

evidence-based medicine Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients". The aim of EBM is to integrate the experience of the clinician, the values of t ...

and stress that

randomized clinical trials A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical t ...

should only be conducted when warranted by ample preclinical evidence to justify the effort, time, and expenses involved. For a science-based approach, Novella supports minimizing or eliminating research on implausible treatments, and points out that decades are often required for clinical research to become supported by rigorous, conclusive trials, during which time decisions must be made, preferably guided by and screened by plausibility criteria. In a systematic survey of web sites providing material on

complementary and alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

from 2018, medical education researcher Annie Chen and colleagues listed ''Science-Based Medicine'' alongside ''

WebMD WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being. The site includes information pertaining to drugs. It is one of the top healthcare websites. It was fo ...

'' as an example of an "information service" providing articles on health and illness. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, ''Science-Based Medicine'' collected and debunked misinformation that had spread through social media, such as the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines could cause infertility.

Retractions

On June 15, 2021, ''Science-Based Medicine'' published a book review of Abgail Shrier's ''

Irreversible Damage ''Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters'' is a 2020 book by Abigail Shrier, published by Regnery Publishing, which endorses the controversial concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). ROGD is not recognized a ...

'' written by founding editor Harriet Hall. Hall's review claimed that Shrier's book had raised legitimate concerns about the science surrounding drug treatments for

Gender dysphoria in children Gender dysphoria in children (GD), also known as gender incongruence of childhood, is a formal diagnosis for children who experience significant discontent ( gender dysphoria) due to a mismatch between their assigned sex and gender identity. T ...

and made a claim that there was a lack of quality scientific studies on the subject. Several days after the review was published, Novella and Gorski replaced the review with a retraction notice and responded with a review of their own, the first of six SBM posts rejecting Shrier's claims and addressing the retraction. ''

Skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then th ...

'' magazine republished Hall's review and she remains as one of the three editors at SBM along with Novella and Gorski after the retraction.

Legal

In 2014, Novella was sued by Edward Tobinick, a doctor claiming to treat neurological diseases, over two blog posts on ''Science-Based Medicine'' critical of off-label use of the drug

Etanercept Etanercept, sold under the brand name Enbrel among others, is a biologic medical product that is used to treat autoimmune diseases by interfering with tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a soluble inflammatory cytokine, by acting as a TNF inhibitor. It h ...

by Tobinick's medical clinic. The lawsuit, filed by Tobinick against Steven Novella, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, Inc., and SGU Productions, LLC was resolved after the court ruled in favor of the defendants.

References

External links