Dr Charles Shepherd, Dr Nigel Speight, and infectious diseases consultant Dr William Weir have joined 39 other signatories to the open letter to the Lancet which first appeared on Prof Vincent Rancaniello’s ‘Virology’ blog on November 13 2015.

The letter was re-published on 10th November with a comment from Prof Rancaniello:

“On November 13th, five colleagues and I released an open letter to The Lancet and editor Richard Horton about the PACE trial, which the journal published in 2011. The study’s reported findings –that cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy are effective treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome –have had enormous influence on clinical guidelines for the illness.

“Last October, Virology Blog published David Tuller’s investigative report on the PACE study’s indefensible methodological lapses. Citing these problems, we noted in the letter that “such flaws have no place in published research” and urged Dr. Horton to commission a fully independent review.

“Although Dr. Horton’s office e-mailed that he would respond to our letter when he returned from “traveling,” it has now been almost three months. Dr. Horton has remained silent on the issue. Today, therefore, we are reposting the open letter and resending it to The Lancet and Dr. Horton, with the names of three dozen more leading scientists and clinicians, most of them well-known experts in the ME/CFS field.

“We still hope and expect that Dr. Horton will address – rather than continue to ignore – these critical concerns about the PACE study.”