In 2013, Dr. Maryanne Demasi was investigating the clinical trial data on statins when she learned the raw data had been kept secret, held by a group of researchers called the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists (CTT) out of Oxford University. Here, Demasi explains why such secrecy undermines what she terms "the bedrock of science: contestability and replicability." She also notes the ways the landscape has changed since 2013, opening the door for independent review of the data on statins and other drugs.

On June 29, 2019, The New York Times published a report entitled “FDA Names 16 Brands of Dog Food That May Be Linked to Canine Heart Disease.” The story was an update to previous coverage of an FDA investigation into the nutritional causes of a rare canine heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The investigation, ongoing since July of last year, is a unique example of a veterinary nutrition story managing to transcend the veterinary community and grab the attention of the pet-owning public. Unfortunately, the majority of the reports on this story ignore the financial conflicts of interest possessed by the veterinarians at the heart of the FDA’s investigation, and all mischaracterize the actual state of the scientific record concerning canine DCM.