5 June 2020|The Interregnum|Mohamed Elmaazi
The anti-malaria drug HCQ remains unproven in its efficacy to treat COVID-19. However, the report which lead to the WHO pausing its own research into the drug has now been disavowed by the lead researchers.
The medical experts and co-authors of an article published in The Lancet medical journal which examined the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have now publicly retracted their study, citing concerns over the inability to independently verify the data that they were provided from the Surgisphere Corporation.
“Our independent peer reviewers informed us that Surgisphere would not transfer the full dataset, client contracts, and the full ISO audit report to their servers for analysis as such transfer would violate client agreements and confidentiality requirements”, the joint letter from doctors Mandeep R Mehra, Frank Ruschitzka, Amit N Patel to The Lancet said. “As such, our reviewers were not able to conduct an independent and private peer review and therefore notified us of their withdrawal from the peer-review process”.
The study had found that HCQ did not help treat COVID-19, increases the likelihood of heart problems and in some cases may even kill you. After this study was published the World Health Organization (WHO) temporarily suspended its own clinical trials out of safety concerns. Other studies were also suspended, though the WHO has since decided to unpause their trials (on 3 June) after questions were raised about quality of the data provided by Surgisphere. The Lancet also issued an “expression of concern” after it appeared that Surgesphere had reported cases of COVID-19 in Australia and in the African continent which contradicted officially known statistics.
It remains the case that studies still show no benefit to using HCQ to treat COVID-19, despite the initially promising data once seen in France.
The authors of the The Lancet article Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis contacted a third party to independently investigate the data sets provided to them by Surgisphere for their study. Other studies using data provided to them by Surgisphere, and conducted by different researchers, have also been called into question, with calls for the data used to be made public or at least also be independently reviewed.
Before these questions were raised about Surgisphere this author interviewed Dr Patel about the results of the Lancet study examining HCQ, which he co-authored. Dr Patel stressed that further randomised studies would still be needed in order to have a better perspective as to the efficacy of the drug.
“Based on this development, we can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources” the authors explained. The then asked that The Lancet to retract the paper.. The doctors said that they, “entered this collaboration to contribute in good faith and at a time of great need during the COVID-19 pandemic”. Mr Mehra, Ruschitzka and Patel concluded their letter by ‘deeply apologising’ to, “you, the editors, and the journal readership for any embarrassment or inconvenience that this may have caused”.