Why I am signing the petition to oppose MEGA

MEGA has many facets: is it a thing of beauty or are its flaws too great?

MEGA is a proposed study into ME/CFS. There are good and bad aspects to it, so reaching a conclusion on whether to support it, or not, is not straightforward. But after careful consideration I have decided I am going to sign the petition opposing the study.

The MEGA alliance asked patients to endorse their study by signing a petition in support of them gaining funding to take the project forward (yes, there are two separate petitions). In the bit at the bottom were details about who was involved which includes the principal investigator of the PACE trial, and another researcher who has spoken highly of PACE and is running a trial similar to PACE in kids. Both promote a biopsychosocial (BPS) model of the disease.After some debate, someone launched a counter petition opposing the study. Right now what we have is a binary choice:

– Support the petition endorsing the study

OR

– Support the petition in opposition to the study.

You can of course do nothing but then you get no say at all, stuff just happens to you.

There are lots of potential problems with MEGA and these have been discussed on Facebook pages, blogs and forums such as Phoenix Rising. But these are the things that for me mean that I cannot support MEGA:

* Peter White’s involvement – he led the PACE trial. He promotes a BPS model of the disease that his own research does not support.

* Esther Crawley’s involvement – she ran a treatment trial of the Lightning Process on children with ME. She is now doing a graded exercise therapy trial on children despite there being concerns over the safety of the treatment.

* AYME involvement – Esther Crawley is an adviser for this organization so there is a clear conflict of interest. In my view AYME does a bad job of representing the interests of patients, one recent example I wrote about on my blog this spring.

I also have concerns over the definition that will be used to pick patients for the study, though I believe this may be something that those involved in the study may be willing to change, so it is not currently a reason why I am signing the petition. I don’t see any realistic prospect of them resolving the three issues above though, hence I will be signing the petition to oppose MEGA.

Some have pointed out that there are some good people involved in this study too, and I agree that is the case. There are researchers involved who have a track record of carrying out good quality science and I hope these people will do research into ME/CFS in some form. I want to find myself in a position where I can support them wholeheartedly.

I would like to specifically state that every patient I have interacted with wants these new researchers involved. The concerns are solely with certain individuals and organizations that I feel have let patients down over the years.

It has also been pointed out that as well as mental health questionnaires for 12,000 patients we will also get some omics data, and I think if genuine patients are picked this will be very interesting. The problem though is that patients are being asked if they want this study as it is and we are not being given a one or the other option. We are being told we get the good bits but must also accept the bad bits.

Given the new researchers involved are not considered experts in ME/CFS the study will be dependent on the advice of the so called experts White and Crawley. This could limit the good side of what we could potentially get out of this study and given its size and cost, if this study is not done properly it will set in stone an omics view of the disease forever. No one is going to be given funding to do something similar on this scale again if this study fails to show compelling evidence of something going on in omics. So the stakes are high.

Additionally, omics research takes time, a lot more time than it takes for mental health questionnaire and chalder fatigue scale results from the same study to be published and start being applied to all of us. If lots of people without ME/CFS but with mental health problems are entered into the study (highly likely based on the definition they tell us they will use) then a lot of those 12,000 study participants will demonstrate mental health dysfunction and not have ME/CFS.

It would probably seem quite reasonable to add these questionnaires to the study (it’s not hugely expensive). But off the back of the biggest ever study of mental health in ME/CFS (even though that is not the primary aim of the study) White, Crawley and other researchers who promote behavioral models of the disease will use this data to further research in that area rather than biological models.

So the question is, are you willing to take the risk of endorsing the bad as part of the deal to potentially get something good? Right now, as it stands, I cannot support it.

Some people who I like and respect a lot are in support of MEGA. I understand their reasons, and I too would love to support large-scale biomedical research into ME/CFS from some of the names involved in this project. I have found it very tempting to ignore the major problems I’ve raised, because of my desire for some of the big names involved in this project to have a crack at the disease. But I simply can’t do so under the present circumstances, I feel the downsides are currently too significant.

It was also very tempting to sit on the fence. This is not the same situation as PACE, for instance. This is not PACE 2. PACE was 100% bad, there were no redeeming features. MEGA, in contrast has both good and bad features. But I felt it was my responsibility to reach a conclusion and to voice it and my conclusion is that there is too much bad wrapped up with the good.

Also, as you can remove your signature from these petitions if you change your mind, if the issues blocking my support of MEGA are resolved — and I hope they are — I will happily withdraw my signature and support the study. That gives me the confidence to make a decision based on the information I have right now.

I welcome comment on my blog from both sides of the debate, it’s not something that patients should fight over, it’s OK to disagree on such important matters. There is no clear right or wrong, and even if we disagree on this I am sure we will continue to agree on a great deal else.