Epic editorial just published in @jrheum re:@ACRheum 2019 osteoarthritis recommendations
In short, ACR took the (correct!) stance that we should recommend AGAINST hyaluronic acid
This somewhat understandably upset companies that produce this voodoo. So they wrote an editorial!
Right up front, we get the "I'm not biased, you're biased!" accusation
It's pretty rich for authors who literally worked for and actively own stock in OrthogenRx (a purveyor of fine hyaluronic acid) accuse others of "bias"
Oh, also, OrthogenRx "funded" this editorial
Really - who needs funding to write an editorial? It's like 1200 words and a figure. I've written tweetorials that long while driving
I suppose it was nice to have AOIC LLC, which OrthogenRx funded, make your figure, edit your paper, add refs, and submit the article
That's a fair bit of unmasking, threatens validity of randomization
2/ Interesting issues with selection - social media recruitment, lots of screened peopled excluded (~6,000), mostly healthcare workers, self report exposure. Randomization should fix some of this, but it was not "all comers." This makes issue 1 (unmasking) extra problematic to me