2010–2025R&D & Science
NASA's arsenic life press conference was a PR disaster — the science never held up
NASA press conference hyped discoveryReputational damage; researcher left science; retracted 2025
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2017–2025Sigma-Tau (Leadiant Biosciences)
Sigma-Tau raised an orphan drug 500x — regulators fined it €20.5M
hiking orphan drug price 500x€20.5M in fines, price reduction, reputational damage
2020–2024IHU Méditerranée Infection
Hydroxychloroquine champion Didier Raoult — 46 retractions, 218 concerns
promoted unproven COVID treatment46 retractions, 218 concerns, career ended
2020–2024University of Rochester
Physicist faked room-temp superconductivity — 5 retractions, thesis 21% plagiarized
faked room-temp superconductivity data5 retracted papers, lab closed, career destroyed
2020–2024Biogen
Biogen pushed aducanumab past a 10-1 FDA panel rejection — three panelists resigned
FDA panel votes 10-1 against, Nov 2020$3.3B spent; only 100 patients bought the drug
2023Quantum Energy Research Centre
LK-99: the 'world-first' superconductor that was copper sulfide and iron
a world-first claim, no sample to test24 years of work, three weeks of hype, one credibility bill
2023Stanford University
Stanford president resigned over manipulated images — 5 papers retracted or corrected
manipulated images found in 5 papersStanford presidency, 5 papers retracted, career damaged
2022IBM
IBM spent $4 billion on Watson Health and got a $1 billion exit
Watson Health sold to private equity$4bn invested; sold for $1bn
2001–2021Satellite Propulsion Research Ltd
Shawyer's EmDrive: twenty years of selling an engine that broke physics
a 0.02 N demo no one could reproducetwo decades of promotion ending in zero contracts
2012–2021Duke University
Dan Ariely's fabricated honesty study — the professor who faked data on dishonesty
Fabricated data in a PNAS studyFabricated data, 3-year investigation, retracted
1977–2020GlaxoSmithKline
Zantac was the world's bestselling heartburn drug — then it turned out to cause cancer
Valisure found NDMA in stability testingglobal withdrawal, billions in litigation
2005–2020Stanford University
Why most published research is false — John Ioannidis and the replication crisis
System incentivized false positivesReplication crisis, wasted research, lost credibility
1993–2018Cochrane Collaboration
Peter Gøtzsche expelled from Cochrane — the evidence watchdog banished its own co-founder
Expelled co-founder for pharma criticismExpelled co-founder, governance crisis
2018Cornell University
The professor who bragged about p-hacking — and lost 18 papers to retraction
blog post celebrated p-hacking18 papers retracted, $22M program ended
2018Southern University of Science and Technology
He Jiankui gene-edited two babies — and the scientific world condemned him
editing babies no one asked to be edited3-year sentence; career destroyed
2010–2017R&D & Science
Amy Cuddy's power posing was a TED talk phenomenon — and the science collapsed
2012 TED talk went viralMillions wasted on ineffective corporate training
2015–2016Bial-Portela & Ca. SA
Bial trial killed one and brain-damaged four at 40x the therapeutic dose
Phase I dose escalation, January 20161 dead; 4 brain-damaged; guidelines rewritten; €110M loan
1968–2016Procter & Gamble
P&G spent 28 years developing Olestra — Wow! Chips caused 'anal leakage' and collapsed
'anal leakage' side effect emerged$400M sales collapsed to zero; brand discontinued 2016
2015–2016CERN
CERN's 750 GeV bump: 500 papers about a statistical wiggle
a bump both experiments could see500 theory papers and a year of the field's attention
2011–2016R&D & Science
A respected psychologist published evidence of ESP — the replication crisis was born
Journal published ESP evidenceReputational damage to psychology; trust lost in peer review