Peter Gøtzsche expelled from Cochrane — the evidence watchdog banished its own co-founder

Peter Gøtzsche co-founded the Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 alongside Sir Iain Chalmers and 80 other investigators. He established the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen the same year and served as its director for 25 years. Cochrane was the gold standard of evidence-based medicine — systematic reviews that doctors and health systems around the world relied on to make treatment decisions.

Gøtzsche became a vocal critic of the pharmaceutical industry, publishing a 2012 report titled 'Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry is common, serious and repetitive' and a 2013 book, Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime. He argued that industry-funded trials hid deaths — citing an FDA analysis showing antidepressant suicides 15 times higher than reported — and that psychiatric drugs were minimally effective but highly dangerous. In 2015, he published Deadly Psychiatry and Organised Denial, claiming that 98% of users could discontinue psychotropic drugs.

On September 13, 2018, Cochrane's Governing Board voted 6 to 5 to expel Gøtzsche, citing 'seriously bad behaviour' and bringing the organization into 'disrepute.' The BMJ described the process as a 'show trial' based on an external law firm's report. Four supporting board members resigned in protest, calling it a 'mass exodus.' Gøtzsche was stripped of all roles, including director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre. In 2019, he founded the Institute for Scientific Freedom.

Cochrane voted 6 to 5 to expel Gøtzsche for 'seriously bad behaviour,' triggering a governance crisis and mass exodus.

Cochrane expelled its own co-founder for doing exactly what Cochrane taught: criticize weak evidence and industry influence. The organization punished the behaviour it was built to encourage.

The vote was 6 to 5 — a razor-thin margin that reflected deep division. Gøtzsche was excluded from the vote, and the process was described as a 'show trial.'

The expulsion triggered a governance crisis. Four board members resigned. Cochrane Iberoamerica called for an investigation. The BMJ portrayed it as proof of Cochrane's struggle with corporatisation.

Gøtzsche's views were extreme — he claimed 98% of psychiatric drug users could stop — but should an evidence organization expel a co-founder for controversial opinions, or engage with them.

When an organization that exists to hold others accountable cannot handle criticism of its own members, it has lost the plot. Cochrane expelled the man who built it — for doing what it taught him.

Gøtzsche founded the Institute for Scientific Freedom in 2019, dedicated to preserving honesty and integrity in science. The Cochrane expulsion became a case study in how evidence-based organizations handle internal dissent. The BMJ's coverage was sharply critical of Cochrane's process, calling it a 'flawed' and 'non-transparent' handling that damaged the organization's reputation. Cochrane's membership was deeply divided, and the episode left a lasting stain on the organization's credibility as an independent arbiter of evidence.