After Hours: A New Medical Journal Not Captured by Big Pharma

Summary

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Full Measure After Hours

Episode: A New Medical Journal Not Captured by Big Pharma
Host: Sharyl Attkisson
Guest: Dr. Joseph Varon, President of the Independent Medical Alliance
Date: February 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode investigates the growing concerns over the credibility of mainstream medical journals, focusing on how financial interests—especially from pharmaceutical companies—may taint the integrity of published research. Sharyl Attkisson interviews Dr. Joseph Varon, a critical care specialist and founder of the newly launched Journal of Independent Medicine, an open-access medical journal positioned as a solution to industry-wide bias. Dr. Varon shares first-hand insights into the systemic problems, the vision behind his independent journal, and the challenges faced when pushing for unbiased, transparent science.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Problem: Erosion of Trust in Prestigious Medical Journals

• Historical trust, recent doubts: For decades, journals like the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet have been considered the gold standard in scientific research. However, both Attkisson and Dr. Varon highlight a disturbing trend of unreliable or slanted research appearing in respected publications ([00:04]–[03:44]).

• Internal confirmation: Attkisson references interviews with Dr. Marcia Angell (former editor of NEJM) and Dr. Richard Horton (The Lancet) confirming that science in these journals has taken a “turn toward darkness” due to conflicts of interest.

  “Many doctors who rely on the information in these journals don't know the shocking truth. Much of the information in these journals is slanted or even untrue.”
  —Sharyl Attkisson, [00:36]

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2. Big Pharma’s Influence on Medical Publishing

• Financial dependency: Dr. Varon explains that major journals are “taken hostage by big pharma,” with over 50% of income sometimes coming from industry sources, leading to a significant loss of credibility ([03:44]).

• Conflicted studies: He provides a striking example of a vaccine study in NEJM where 90% of authors were employed by the vaccine’s manufacturer, a situation he labels an “obvious conflict of interest” ([03:44]).

  “These journals have been taken hostage by big pharma... If you're getting revenue from [industry sponsors], you're not going to say, I'm not going to accept you because you're going to shut down.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [03:44]

• Suppressed independent studies: He laments that many independent studies fail to get published because they do not serve the journals’ financial interests ([05:02]).

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3. The Genesis of the Journal of Independent Medicine

• Origins & motivation: Dr. Varon recounts forming the FLCCC (Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance), which evolved into the Independent Medical Alliance, after repeated rejections of their data by mainstream journals with pharmaceutical ties ([05:40]).

• Core principles:

  • Absolute independence from industry funding—all support is via the alliance and donations.
  • Transparent, double-blind peer review: reviewers and authors are anonymized to minimize personal bias.
  • Emphasis on open data access and openness to repurposed, inexpensive medications and opinion pieces ([05:40]–[08:39]).

  “We needed a journal... that would allow independent practitioners, independent key opinion leaders, to write papers that were clean, bias-free.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [05:40]

  “We don't take any funding from Big Pharma, which is a big, big thing.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [06:45]

  “I'm interested in people that have good science… If the science is good, if they're transparent, if I can go into their data...”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [07:07]

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4. Submissions and Reach of the New Journal

• Global interest: Submissions are coming from all over the world; Dr. Varon cites a recent paper on end-of-life care in Iraq ([08:46]).

• Publishing excluded research: The journal features work that would likely be suppressed elsewhere, such as alternative cancer treatment studies by Dr. Paul Marik and Dr. Justice Hope ([09:29]).

  “It’s good data, is scientifically sound. Again, it went through a full peer review and we got it in and it's one of the most downloaded papers that we have.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [09:29]

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5. Pushback and Industry Resistance

• Skepticism and criticism: Dr. Varon has faced significant resistance from editors and journalists dismissing the journal’s credibility and predicting it won’t succeed or be indexed ([10:12]).

• **Accusations of bias about certain subjects (e.g., Ivermectin), but Varon defends their narrative review approach to such topics ([10:16]).

• Critique of statistical manipulation: He highlights the prevalence of "junk articles" in major journals due to the ability to “twist the data so that it looks exactly how you want it.”

• Upcoming focus: The journal will publish guidance on spotting misleading statistics to help physicians critically evaluate research ([10:16]–[11:41]).

  “You can pretty much twist the data so that it looks exactly how you want it, and that's what they're publishing.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [10:57]

  “We're not pushing the narrative one way or the other. We're just wanting to put in good science.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [10:32]

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6. Accessing the Journal

• Open access: The Journal of Independent Medicine is currently free; visitors simply provide an email to register ([11:47]).
• Online portals:
  • journalofindependentmedicine.org
  • imahealth.org (link available to the journal)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Science has taken a turn toward darkness, that many of the published studies in these prestigious journals are not to be believed because of conflicts of interest.”
  —Sharyl Attkisson, [03:14]

• “We were even sending our papers of good data. They were getting rejected because we did not have a big pharmaceutical backup behind us.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [05:48]

• “If the science is good, if they're transparent, if I can go into their data… then those are papers that I'm extremely interested in.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [07:07]

• “My primary thing is find good researchers that are interested in publishing the data.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [08:59]

• “I've had several people that do advanced statistics... and they say, how did this go through?... So, for example, one of the papers...coming out, it's a narrative review teaching doctors how to identify those twists in statistics.”
  —Dr. Joseph Varon, [10:57]–[11:38]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:04–02:53: Introduction, context about problems in mainstream journals, and Dr. Varon’s expertise.
• 03:14: Confirmation from former journal editors about the decline in research integrity.
• 03:44: Dr. Varon on Big Pharma’s influence and conflicts of interest.
• 05:02: Suppression of independent science.
• 05:40: Birth and mission of the Journal of Independent Medicine; double-blind review and independence from industry funding.
• 08:46: Global submission reach and example of impactful, otherwise-excluded research.
• 09:29: Publishing alternative cancer treatment research.
• 10:12: Pushback from the journal industry.
• 10:57: Critique of statistical manipulation; upcoming educational pieces.
• 11:47: How to access the journal.

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Conclusion & Further Exploration

Sharyl Attkisson wraps up by directing listeners to her forthcoming TV cover story on this topic and encouraging independent, critical thinking ([12:17]). She promotes further resources for viewers seeking to understand Big Pharma’s influence on medicine.

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For more information:

• Visit journalofindependentmedicine.org or imahealth.org
• Upcoming broader coverage on Full Measure TV (see FullMeasure.News)

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Transcript

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Foreign.

[Cheryl Akeson]

Hi everybody, it's Cheryl Akeson. Welcome to another edition of Full Measure. After Hours today, a new medical journal not captured by Big Pharma. I think this is a fascinating and under reported story. My favorite kind. For decades, the world's most prestigious medical journals. I'm talking about the New England Journal of Medicine, the British journal Lancet. They've been trusted as the supposed gold standard for scientific research. But something really disturbing has been happening in recent decades. Many doctors who rely on the information in these journals don't know the shocking truth. Much of the information in these journals is slanted or even untrue. And as you'll hear in today's podcast, that's not according to me alone. That's information I first got from some of the journal leaders themselves who disclosed and admitted and confessed to how much material in their own published journals is simply not to be trusted. Well now, Dr. Joseph Varon is a critical care specialist and president of the Independent Medical alliance and he is new to the medical journal scene. He has started an independent medical journal called the Journal of Independent Medicine. I will be interviewing him in depth and reporting on his journal Sunday, February 8th on full measure. But in today's podcast you get to hear excerpts from the interview as to why and how he got the idea for this independent journal, why the time is so right for for such a publication. By the way, he is quite an accomplished fellow. He has specialties in internal medicine, intensive care, pulmonary medicine, geriatrics, emergency medicine and sleep disorders. I have long thought about or complained about the fact that I think today many of our doctors are taught in a way that is so stovepiped that sometimes the they don't have the expertise to put two and two together when maybe someone's illness involves other systems that they haven't studied as well and they tend to just treat you sort of in a silo. Doctors who happen to have more general training or training in many different systems like Dr. Varen has, well, I think they tend to understand more about what's so wrong with us today as a society, why we've grown sicker and sicker with chronic disorders, even as we've never spent so much on medicine and hospitals and medical care. Here's my interview with Dr. Varen.

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

I feel myself like a general practitioner with a bunch of titles, but I that's for me, especially during the pandemic, this was fascinating because I had all the elements that I needed to deal with administrative issues related to the pandemic, clinical stuff related to lung problems, general internal Medicine problems. Thanks for that.

[Interviewer]

Over the years, I've done interviews, including with Dr. Marcia angel, who is the first female editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. I've reported about Dr. Richard Horton of the British journal Lancet, both of whom have said science has taken a turn toward darkness, that many of the published studies in these prestigious journals are not to be believed because of conflicts of interest. Can you summarize in an easy to understand way what you think is wrong or was wrong with the scientific journal landscape?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Well, there is no question that these journals have been taken hostage by big pharma. There is no question about it. I mean, when you have journals that get more than 50% of their income from big pharma, you know that they're going to publish things that it's favorable to this particular company. So you lose credibility. Just to give an example, there is a study that was published a few years back in New England Journal of Medicine related to vaccines. When you look at the authors, over 90% of the authors work for the company that made the vaccine. You see, if I was the editor in chief of that journal, I would say, no, this paper doesn't come in because that's a huge conflict of interest. But obviously, if you're getting money, if you're getting revenue from, you're not going to say, I'm not going to accept you because you're going to shut down.

[Interviewer]

Isn't it difficult though, because the whole system is designed. My understanding is the conflicts of interest are built in. The drug companies do most of their own research. That's the way it happens. So you're not going to get what I think some outsiders would consider to be an independent study. There's not many of them. Or are there more than we know about and they're just not published?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Well, I mean, there are more than you just don't know are out there and you will have a lot of independent studies, but they don't want them. They don't want them because it doesn't bring them anything back to the journal. These journals, they want the revenue, let's just be honest, they want the number of advertisements that they can add to their journal. And unfortunately, good science is being lost, or at least it's not being distributed in a way that people can look at it.

[Interviewer]

What was your idea? What is the idea behind your journal? And I assume it's to try to make more independent science come to the forefront.

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

So, you know, the Independent Medical alliance, as you know, started as the FLCCC, which was the frontline COVID 19 Critical Care Alliance a bunch of friends that sat together came up with ideas and we recognized that all these journals were being kidnapped. We were even sending our papers of good data. They were getting rejected because we did not have a big pharmaceutical backup behind us. So very early, even before we became the Independent Medical Alliance, I had the idea that we needed a journal, an independent journal that would allow independent practitioners, independent key opinion leaders, to write papers that were clean, were bias free. But in order to do that, you needed to have a system that truly ensures good quality of data, transparency, and more importantly, what I call a double blinded system. So for example, if you send me a paper and I know that you're a great writer, I still make sure that your paper to me gets blinded. So I don't know that you wrote it. I send it to my reviewers who don't know that you wrote it. So they just know, hey, we know Cheryl, she's such a nice girl. We're just going to accept it? No. And then when they send you their comments, you don't know who these people are. So there is an absolute 100% lack of at least personal bias. Second, we don't take any funding from Big Pharma, which is a big, big thing. I mean, all our funding is through the Independent Medical alliance, which is a 501 corporation. We get donations, people help us. But I am particularly interested in people that have good science, that have seen their papers elsewhere and they have been rejected because of political economical reasons or other things. If the science is good, if they're transparent, if I can go into their data, which is something that there are a lot of papers out there, they hide their data. I'm sure you are familiar with Pfizer saying that we're not going to show you our data for 75 years, which is, to me it makes no sense, then those are papers that I'm extremely interested in. I'm interested in looking at things that are relatively inexpensive. So repurposed drugs, drugs that have been used for many, many, many years and now you're giving them a different approach. I'm also interested in opinion pieces, people. I mean, what do you think we did wrong, for example, during the pandemic? How can we avoid committing the same mistake in a nice non confrontational way?

[Interviewer]

What kind of submissions are you getting? Are you having a lot of scientists that want to have their papers appear in your journal?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

I'm having submissions from pretty much all over the world. In our most recent issue, we even had a submission from Iraq I mean, on looking at end of life issues in Iraq as compared to other countries, the goal is that this journal will grow and the fact that it's again, bias free will bring us good science. My primary thing is find good researchers that are interested in publishing the data.

[Interviewer]

Do you have an example of a study or two that you've published that you think might not have seen the light of day otherwise, that has important data there?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Well, we recently had a couple of papers, especially as it pertains to the use of alternative treatments for the treatment of cancer. I can tell you that particular paper done by Dr. Paul Marik and Dr. Justice Hope would not have seen the light of the day in any other journal. It's good data, is scientifically sound. Again, it went through a full peer review and we got it in and it's one of the most downloaded papers that we have.

[Interviewer]

What would you say about, have you been getting pushback from sort of the journal industry or do they care that you've started this journal for the reasons that you've done so?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Oh, we've had. I mean, I've had so much pushback, it's not even funny.

[Interviewer]

What kinds of things happen?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

I mean, for example, you know, editors in chief from other journals, well, renowned journalists. You guys are not going to be able to make it or you will not get indexed. You will not be stuff. I mean, you guys are just putting stuff about Ivermectin. It's like, no, we're doing narrative reviews of medications that we believe are important, repurposed drugs that we believe that can be used for other things. We're not pushing the narrative one way or the other. We're just wanting to put in good science. And that is one of the problems. If you were to look at any of the big journals, you see the amount of junk articles they have, it's unreal. I've had several people that do advanced statistics with us and they review some of these papers and they say, how did this go through? I'm not a magician in statistics, but I have a lot of people that are. You can pretty much twist the data so that it looks exactly how you want it, and that's what they're publishing. So for example, one of the papers that were coming next month coming out, it's a narrative review teaching doctors how to identify those twists in statistics so the doctors understand that, hey, this data may not be legit.

[Interviewer]

If doctors or even patients want to access your journal and the articles, what is the easiest way for them to do that?

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Well, the easiest way is just to go online. I mean, one thing is as of now, the journal is 100% free. The only thing that we ask you is just to get your email and things like that. So you go to journalofindependentmedicine.org and you find it. Or you can enter it through the imahealth.org you'll have a link to the Journal. That's the easiest way to get through.

[Cheryl Akeson]

For more on this topic, I hope you'll watch for my cover story Sunday, February 8th on full measure. For a list of stations and times, go to Cheryl Akison.com and click the Full Measure tab. You could always also watch at FullMeasure News online. We post the program around 11:30 or noon on Sundays. Replays can be seen there anytime. Also on our unadvertised YouTube channel, full measure with Cheryl Akeson. And if you're interested in this topic, maybe you've already checked out my latest national bestseller, Follow the How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails. But if you haven't had the chance to do that, I hope you'll look it up today. Proceeds support independent reporting causes. Do your own research. Make up your own mind. Think for yourself.

[Dr. Joseph Varon]

Sam.