Hulscher wrote another textbook example of a massively flawed study. The first flaw should be evident to almost anyone in that this is not clinically verified, but self-reported data via surveys. There’s no clinician verification or medical record review. It’s based on patient beliefs, nothing more. In addition, they claim 32.8% “no evidence of disease” and 15.6% “regression,” which is all self‑reported by patients, not clinically confirmed.
Further there is no control group for comparison. It’s ironic because people like him often argue for the need for placebo-controlled trials, but apparently that doesn’t apply to him. There’s no comparison related to standards of care and no group left untreated.
It’s also not surprising that every single author listed has a major conflict of interest in that they are all employed by The Wellness Company, who:
- Prescribed the ivermectin/mebendazole
- Sold the compounded pills
- Collected the data
- Wrote the paper
- Markets these drugs as “cancer therapy”
Another major red flag is that of the 197 patients that were enrolled, only 122 completed follow-up. A 38% loss to follow-up in an observational study is a major red flag. That entire group may have died or had their cancer progress. Losing that large of a fraction in this type of study completely invalidates it.
Many participants were simultaneously receiving chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, immunotherapy, and other standard treatments yet they fail to adjust for these, attributing benefit to ivermectin/mebendazole is scientifically indefensible. Without controlling for those variables, it’s unethical to suggest that the effect was due to ivermectin and mebendazole.
Guess who the participants were? They are customers of The Wellness Company, i.e., they are therefore NOT a representative sample of the population. This is essentially a customer satisfaction survey dressed up as clinical research. This has a number of problems.
- Patients purchased the drugs
- Patients believed in the drugs
- Patients were surveyed by the company selling the drugs
- Patients had strong ideological alignment (62.6% unvaccinated)
- Patients were motivated to report benefit
As usual, he also uses fringe and retracted studies in his citations.
When even a pay‑to‑publish journal feels compelled to issue an Expression of Concern, you know the problems are severe.
Every single author of this should be embarrassed by how bad this is. I think it’s a good indicator not to trust anything any of them put their names on. Further, so should the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where Hulscher obtained his degree. They have done NOTHING to counter the damage to health that he is causing. Schools of public health have a responsibility to address alumni who actively undermine evidence‑based practice.
