STAT⁠44%

STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a Biogen Alzheimer’s drug, skyrocketing 340B drug sales, and more ⁠44%

By Ed Silverman⁠62%

7/15/2026, 6:06:40 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Framing Effect, and Ambiguity (Equivocation), with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 65.8% saturation with 208 hits. Analysis detected 1,248 faulty-reasoning hits from 316 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.8% and a BS Rank of ⁠44% (12,433 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 56.80% of the article peer group.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the middle of the week. 
Congratulations on making it this far, and remember there are only a few more days until the weekend arrives. 
So keep plugging away. 
After all, what are the alternatives? 
While you ponder the possibilities, we invite you to join us for a needed cup of stimulation. 
Our choice today is ginseng honey, a favorite from our pantry. 
Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you on your way. 
We hope you conquer the world and have a wonderful day. 
And as always, please do stay in touch. 
… 
An experimental Alzheimer’s drug from Biogen, designed with a novel approach, slowed cognitive decline in a mid-stage trial at roughly comparable rates as approved medicines, new data that bolstered the company’s case to move the treatment into a Phase 3 trial, STAT says. 
Although experts will wait to see the pivotal trial data before making their final assessments of the drug, called diranersen, the results from the Phase 2 trial, if backed up in the larger study, could rekindle the debate about how strong trial results have to be to signify that a drug can offer meaningful benefits for patients and caregivers. 
Potential signs of frailty in older adults taking Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 obesity drug Zepbound ​may signal relatively high risks for adverse outcomes , Reuters writes, citing a large study that underscores concerns about how best to monitor seniors as U.S. 
Medicare expands access to obesity therapies. 
In general, frailty-associated conditions such as malnutrition, dehydration and loss of muscle mass and strength developed only rarely and the results should not discourage appropriate use of Zepbound or Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drug Wegovy in older adults, the researchers said. 
Instead, they encouraged closer follow-up of older patients taking the medicines. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 18.7%Ed Silverman: 5.2%STAT: 3.4%Confirmation Bias18.7%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 1.5%STAT: 1.3%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 21.8%Ed Silverman: 3.6%STAT: 3.9%Availability Heuristic21.8%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 1.0%STAT: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.4%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.3%STAT: 1.3%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 52.2%Ed Silverman: 22.5%STAT: 8.2%Framing Effect52.2%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.6%STAT: 0.7%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 5.4%Ed Silverman: 1.4%STAT: 0.9%Status Quo Bias5.4%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 10.8%Ed Silverman: 6.7%STAT: 3.3%Optimism Bias10.8%This article: 12.7%Ed Silverman: 0.5%STAT: 1.8%Pessimism Bias12.7%This article: 17.4%Ed Silverman: 12.2%STAT: 8.5%Negativity Bias17.4%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.5%STAT: 1.1%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.7%STAT: 0.4%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 5.4%Ed Silverman: 0.3%STAT: 0.4%In-Group Bias5.4%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 1.0%STAT: 1.3%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.7%STAT: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 1.3%STAT: 1.6%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.5%STAT: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.4%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.4%Straw Man0.0%This article: 57.6%Ed Silverman: 6.6%STAT: 4.7%Appeal to Authority57.6%This article: 1.9%Ed Silverman: 0.6%STAT: 1.5%False Dilemma1.9%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 1.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 12.7%Ed Silverman: 4.7%STAT: 4.6%Hasty Generalization12.7%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.3%STAT: 0.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 3.5%Ed Silverman: 6.6%STAT: 3.6%Appeal to Emotion3.5%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 1.2%STAT: 0.9%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.6%STAT: 2.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.3%STAT: 0.7%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 3.3%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 26.3%Ed Silverman: 2.1%STAT: 2.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)26.3%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 18.7%Ed Silverman: 1.3%STAT: 0.3%Middle Ground18.7%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 26.3%Ed Silverman: 4.1%STAT: 1.5%Unattributed Quote26.3%This article: 4.7%Ed Silverman: 3.2%STAT: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection4.7%This article: 65.8%Ed Silverman: 14.2%STAT: 6.0%Biased Writer Voice65.8%This article: 16.1%Ed Silverman: 2.6%STAT: 2.1%Indoctrination16.1%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.9%STAT: 0.9%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ed Silverman: 0.0%STAT: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 17.1%Ed Silverman: 1.8%STAT: 3.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…17.1%

316 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers28%attributed speech227writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 15 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageSTAT • 43 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 59 words • 100.0% coverageReuters • 40 words • 100.0% coverageMedicare • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Reuters

100%flagged-word coverage
40 attributed words45% of attributed speech95% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Reuters: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice+44.9 ptsWriter: 55.1%Reuters: 100.0%100.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -23.8 ptsWriter: 23.8%Reuters: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination-22.5 ptsWriter: 22.5%Reuters: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-6.6 ptsWriter: 6.6%Reuters: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.