Articles On Hydroxychloroquine Ineffectiveness Withdrawn Due To Scientific Resonance

Articles on hydroxychloroquine ineffectiveness withdrawn due to scientific resonance

The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine have retracted articles that cited research data on the use of antimalarial drugs in the treatment of COVID-19.

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The authors themselves announced the withdrawal of the articles on the grounds that independent auditors were unable to gain access to all the information necessary to verify the information. Both studies used data from the analytical company Surgisphere Corporation, which, as it turned out later, employs only a few people who have a very indirect relationship to science.

“Today, three authors of the article withdrew their research. They were unable to independently audit the data on which their analysis relied. As a result, they concluded that they could no longer vouch for the accuracy of the underlying data source. The Lancet takes issues of scientific credibility very seriously, and with regard to Surgisphere and the information that was allegedly included in the study, many questions remain unanswered, "- said in an official statement from The Lancet.

The New England Journal of Medicine also issued a statement by the authors to withdraw the article. “We apologize to the editors and readers of the magazine for the difficulties that our publication caused,” the authors write.

Recall that we are talking about an article in The Lancet and, which reflected the results of a large-scale study of the effectiveness of the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19. Scientists have collected data on the treatment of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (including, in combination with azithromycin) of almost 15 thousand people with COVID-19. More than 80 thousand patients with this infection were the comparison group. The data was collected from 671 hospitals around the world. The researchers said that patients treated with different regimens that included chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were more likely to die than control patients. In addition, they were more likely to develop life-threatening arrhythmias.

Earlier, the same authors published in NEJM the results of a study that assessed the relationship between antihypertensive drug use and the risk of death in patients with COVID-19.

However, shortly after the article was published, it was criticized by other researchers. At the end of May, more than 180 scientists signed an open letter addressed to The Lancet editorial staff and the authors of the study. Scientists said that the article lacks information about the algorithm used to analyze the data, in addition, they hid information about the medical centers that provided the data. It was also not possible to independently verify the sources that provided information for the article in NEJM, so the scientists sent a similar letter to the editor.

Earlier, an article in The Lancet was the reason for the suspension of all research on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19, which is being conducted by the World Health Organization. Following the withdrawal of the publication, WHO announced the resumption of trials.

Note that the Russian Ministry of Health did not exclude the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19. The drug was included in the seventh version of the methodological recommendations "Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)" dated June 3.