Researchers withdraw study flagging hydroxychloroquine risks in COVID-19 treatment

authors of a study that raised medical concerns over use of Hydroxychloroquine for treating Coronavirus withdrew ir research on Thursday, blaming a company that provided data.

study, published in Lancet journal of medicine, h claimed to have analysed around 96,000 patient records, finding that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, common anti-malarial drugs, were ineffective in treating COVID-19 and even increased risk of patient’s death. It also flagged Heart arrhythmia as a particular concern.

se finding on Hydroxychloroquine - favoured by President Donald Trump, led World Health Organisation to temporarily suspend clinical trials into medicines. But paper soon raised widespre concern among scientists over a lack of information about hospitals around world that contributed data.

RE | Germany Pauses Anti-malaria Drug Hydroxychloroquine Study For COVID-19

Mandeep Mehra, a professor at Harvard University who led work, along with Frank Ruschitzka of University Hospital Zurich and Amit Patel of University of Utah, said y h tried to conduct a third-party review. However, Surgisphere, a small healthcare analytics firm based in Chicago that provided data, refused to cooperate.

Lancet journal offered its own statement, saying re are many outstanding questions about Surgisphere and data included in  study. Despite or findings verifying safety of hydroxychloroquine, re is still no proof from a randomised clinical trial (RCT) that medicine works against COVID-19.

RE | US Sends Brazil Hydroxychloroquine To Fight Covid, months After Getting Exports From India

Research scandal

research scandal undermines confidence in world's leing medical journals amid a pandemic. After Lancet published  study, highlighting numerous red flags, researchers began to scrutinise information provided by Surgisphere.

An international media outlet h revealed that Chicago-based firm h a scant presence on internet, and only a handful of its staff were listed on LinkedIn including a science fiction author and a model. firm was involved in yet anor eye-catchy study which found that HCL could be useful against COVID-19, as per reports.

RE | EU Governments Ban Use Of Hydroxychloroquine Drug For COVID-19 Patients

RE | France Halts Use Of Hydroxychloroquine For COVID-19 Patients