Published 19:15 IST, May 30th 2020
Lancet issues data correction in study that prompted WHO to suspend HCQ trial
Issuing the clarification, as of May 29, the Lancet journal proposed that the figures of the COVID-19 patients from Australia and Asia were botched.
Medical journal, The Lancet has issued a correction on the patients’ data for its recent study that concluded that the antimalarial drugs Hydroxychloroquine was ineffective to combat the Covid-19 disease and elevated cardiac risks in patients, leading to fatal episodes. Issuing the clarification, on May 29, the journal proposed that the figures of the patients from Australia and Asia were botched. However, the result of the study remained unchanged.
The observational study analysed data from over 15,000 patients with Covid-19 who were administered with the drug in combination with antibiotics, which was later compared with 81,000 controls which did not receive the HCQ dosage. Shortly, the study prompted the World Health Organization to halt testing of hydroxychloroquine in its so-called Solidarity Trial for treatment of novel the coronavirus over mortality issues.
Not just that, Australian infectious disease researchers speculated the data, meanwhile, researchers from around the world started to reassess their own clinical trials of the drug, as per the reports. The Australian Department of Health, for one, had been hoarding millions of doses of HCQ in case clinical trials were found effective.
The numbers of participants from Asia and Australia should have been 8101 (8·4%) and 63 (0·1%), respectively. One hospital self-designated as belonging to the Australasia continental designation should have been assigned to the Asian continental designation. The appendix has also been corrected, The Lancet wrote on its website, in the Department of Error.
Lancet’s study, led by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for Advanced Heart Disease in Boston, mentioned that it examined patients in hospitals across the globe, including in Australia. Further, it added, the researchers “gained access” to data from five hospitals that recorded 600 Australian Covid-19 patients and 73 Australian deaths as of 21 April. However, in an open letter to the authors and the editor of The Lancet, the scientists objected that the data from Australia did not match with the government reports.
Potential harm with use of hydroxychloroquine
“To our knowledge, these findings provide the most comprehensive evidence of the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, for treatment of COVID-19,” the authors wrote in the study. “Although observational studies cannot fully account for unmeasured confounding factors, our findings suggest not only an absence of therapeutic benefit but also potential harm with the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine drug regiments in hospitalized patients,” it added.
Updated 19:15 IST, May 30th 2020