An Economist Best Book of 2025 So Far

For readers of Empire of Pain and Dopesick, a “gripping story of medical groupthink and warped incentives” (The Economist) that follows how Alzheimer’s disease treatment has been set back by corrupt researchers, negligent regulators, and the profit motives of Big Pharma.

Nearly seven million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, a tragedy that is already projected to grow into a $1 trillion crisis by 2050. While families suffer and promises of pharmaceutical breakthroughs keep coming up short, investigative journalist Charles Piller’s Doctored shows that we’ve quite likely been walking the wrong path to finding a cure all along—led astray by a cabal of self-interested researchers, government accomplices, and corporate greed.

In this “riveting must-read master class in science journalism” (Gary Taubes, author of Rethinking Diabetes), Piller begins with a whistleblower—Vanderbilt professor Matthew Schrag—whose work exposed a massive scandal. Schrag found that a University of Minnesota lab led by a precocious young scientist and a Nobel Prize–rumored director delivered apparently falsified data at the heart of the leading hypothesis about the disease.

Piller uncovers evidence that hundreds of important Alzheimer’s research papers are based on false data. In the process, he reveals how even against a flood of money and influence, a determined cadre of scientific renegades have fought back to challenge the field’s institutional powers in service to science and the tens of thousands of patients who have been drawn into trials to test dubious drugs. Piller “masterfully unfolds an epic tale of astounding fraud, scientific egos run amok, and steely heroism in the pursuit of truth, creating both a page-turner and a seminal account of deceit that will long be remembered alongside Theranos and Enron as a scandal for the ages” (Katherine Eban, author of Bottle of Lies).

"'Doctored' demonstrates how some of the most accomplished and elite scientific gatekeepers may have lied, cheated, squandered trust and endangered lives.” 
—The Wall Street Journal

"People touched by [Alzheimer's] in any way will want to read Doctored.” 
—Bookpage

"A fast-paced ride through a web of scientific misconduct in Alzheimer’s research that has wasted billions of dollars and misled the public.”
—Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief, Science

"A riveting must-read master class in science journalism. For those of us who want to ‘trust the science,’ Doctored is the necessary reminder that trust has to be earned.” 
—Gary Taubes, bestselling author of Rethinking Diabetes, The Case Against Sugar, and Good Calories, Bad Calories

“Masterfully unfolds an epic tale of astounding fraud, scientific egos run amok, and steely heroism in the pursuit of truth, creating both a page-turner and a seminal account of deceit that will long be remembered alongside Theranos and Enron as a scandal for the ages.”
—Katherine Eban, author, Bottle of Lies, and special correspondent, Vanity Fair

"[A] gripping story of medical groupthink and warped incentives.” 
—The Economist

"Searing critique of the FDA... Piller's investigation vividly captures the risks borne by whistleblowers” 
—The Atlantic

“Doctored meticulously reveals a world of scientific fraud, its unsuspecting victims, and the sleuths and heroes fighting to fix it. This should be required reading for aspiring scientists, policymakers, and anyone who will one day be touched by a devastating disease—which is all of us.”
—Ivan Oransky, MD, distinguished journalist in residence, New York University, and cofounder of Retraction Watch

"A troubling look at the corruption of Big Science.” 
—Publishers Weekly