The PACE TRIAL
Position and Comments from Invest in ME Research
Below is a timeline of articles and comments from the charity and others regarding the PACE Trial and states our position relating to the PACE Trial.
THE PACE Trial has been frequently discussed in articles on the charity's' website and on the charity’s social media since the first paper was published by Lancet in 2011.
The Medical Research Council’s PACE Trial of certain “behavioural modification” interventions for patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) was controversial on many levels.
“PACE” is the acronym for “Pacing, Activity, and Cognitive behaviour therapy; a randomised Evaluation”.
The PACE trial was conducted under the auspices of the Medical Research Council (MRC) and was funded by the MRC, the Scottish Chief Scientist’s Office, the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The PACE Trial is the only clinical trial that the DWP has ever funded.
Invest in ME Research’s position on PACE has been unequivocal from the beginning.
The PACE Trial has been shown to be flawed and a colossal waste of scarce public funding which could have gone to biomedical research into ME which, by now, may well have been leading to a breakthrough in treating this disease.
The charity position is that the PACE Trial has caused so march harm to people with ME around the world due to it being accepted as valid science.
The charity believes that the PACE Trial must be retracted and discarded as of no value in serious appraisal of ME.
Click below to select year range
December 2009: Can the MRC PACE Trial be justified?
by Margaret Williams Click here
December 2009: Documented involvement of Viruses in ME/CFS
by Margaret Williams Click here
February 2011: MAGICAL MEDICINE: How to Make a Disease Disappear
By Professor Malcolm Hooper and Margaret Williams Click here
September 2011: Magical Medicine Letter to Dr Vince Cable
Letter which was sent by Professor Malcolm Hooper, on the 7th October, to The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State with responsibility for the Medical Research Council (MRC), Click here
October 2010: Knowledge or Belief
by Margaret Williams Click here
December 2010: Twenty-five years of the Barts Fatigue Service
by Margaret Williams Click here
January 2011: Harms with CBT/GET
Reporting of Harms Associated with Graded Exercise Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Click here
February 2011: Initial Statement on the PACE Trial
By any measure the PACE trial was flawed and not of proper research. Click here
March 2011: PACE Trial Investigators and DWP
The involvement of the PACE Trial Principal Investigators and the Director of the Clinical Trials Unit with the Department for Work and Pensions
by Margaret Williams
Click here
March 2011: Submission to Lancet - Response to PACE Trials
Invest in ME responded to the publication in the Lancet of - "Comparison of adaptive pacing therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, graded exercise therapy, and specialist medical care for chronic fatigue syndrome (PACE): a randomised trial" The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9768, Pages 823 - 836, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60096-2 Click here
June 2011: The PACE Trial: An Expression Of Concern
by Douglas T Fraser Click here
June 2011: The PACE Trial: An Expression Of Concern
Extracted from "The PACE Trial: An Expression of Concern" by Douglas T Fraser Click here
June 2011: Comment from Margaret Williams
Professor Malcolm Hooper’s Further Concerns About the PACE Trial Article Published in The Lancet - by Margaret Williams Click here
September 2011: STATISTICS AND ME
Information about the article “Statistics and ME” by Professor Malcolm Hooper Click here
September 2011: It's a Funny Old World
Another interpretation of ME Click here
January 2013: The PACE Trial - Recovery Rates Published
Observations from the PACE recovery study - The Wrong Direction, Flawed Research Click here
February 2013: FINE Trials Experience
IiMER Comment: "The FINE trials and the PACE trials seem to be the two ugly sisters of MRC policy on ME - leaving biomedical research eternally to play a Cinderella role." Click here
November 2015: The PACE TRIAL - A Time for Reflection - A Time for Retraction
The principal architects of the misery being given out to people with ME need to be replaced or held to account. Click here
November 2015: Letter to Lancet
To The Editor of the Lancet – The PACE Trial Click here
Feb 2016: THE PACE TRIAL - Invest in ME Research Position
Invest in ME Research position on PACE has been unequivocal from the beginning. Click here
February 2016: Invest in ME Letters to the Medical Research Council and Lancet
Following Invest in ME's statements on the PACE Trial and the lack of a release of the data for independent review, or a complete retraction of the PACE Trial paper by the Lancet, the charity has now written to the head of the Medical Research Council to request that publicly-funded body to join us in demanding that the data be released by QMUL. Click here
September 2016: Further Invest in ME Letter to the Medical Research Council
We have therefore written again to Sir John Savill - CEO of MRC. Click here
October 2016: Omega Petition
OMEGA Counter Petition to MEGA Project Click here
May 2017: IIMEC12 Pre-Conference Dinner Presentation - Tear It Up
By bringing investigatory and scientific analysis to the PACE Trial and exposing and documenting the faults in what has taken place with this trial David Tuller has also brought awareness to how research into ME has been so flawed in the past. Click here
May 2017: You Tube Video from IIMEC12
Tear It Up Click here
February 2018: Parliamentary Debate on PACE Trial
Parliamentary debate secured on controversial DWP-funded ME trial Click here
Document: The Biopsychosocial Model
Notes on the Ineffectiveness of the Biopsychosocial Model for Treating Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Click here
Reference: Margaret Williams Articles
Articles on ME/CFS by Professor Malcolm Hooper and Margaret Williams 1986-2019 - a gold mine of information on the history of ME Click here
