An influential Lancet article, which found hydroxychloroquine increased the risk of death in COVID-19 patients, was retracted on Thursday.
Gloria Tso reports.
An influential article which found hydroxychloroquine increased the risk of death in COVID-19 patients was retracted on Thursday (June 4).
It adds to the controversy surrounding the drug.
Hydroxychloroquine was championed by U.S. President Donald Trump -- "Good things have come out about the hydroxy, a lot of good things have come out." and he once said he took himself.
UPSOT Trump "I'm taking it, hydroxychloroquine.
Right now, yeah." The article was published on May 22 in the Lancet, a medical journal.
The observational study said it looked at 96,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and its implications led several other COVID-19 studies to be halted.
It claimed those treated with hydroxychloroquine, or the related chloroquine, had higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems than patients who weren't.
Three of the medical journal article's authors have now retracted it, citing concerns about the quality of the data used in the study.
The three authors said the company which provided the data, Surgisphere, would not transfer that data for an independent review, and that they can quote "no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources." The fourth author of the study, the chief executive of Surgisphere, declined to comment.
UPSOT WHO The World Health Organization also paused hydroxychloroquine trials after the Lancet study was released.
They said on Wednesday (June 3) they were ready to resume trials, and dozens of others have now resumed as well.
Many scientists had already voiced concerns about the Lancet study's conclusions-- and the study's lead author has now apologized, saying quote "I did not do enough to ensure that the data source was appropriate for this use."
In today's health headlines we talk about a study about the drug Hydroxychloroquine may have been flawed and a journal that shared..
