JOIN USCOVID-19: Controversial study on hydroxychloroquine withdrawn
A controversial research paper that raised serious doubt on the efficacy of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 now stands withdrawn.
Three of the authors including the lead investigator Mandeep R Mehra from Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital at Boston, Massachusetts now retracted the paper from the medical journal Lancet where it was published.
The paper triggered a worldwide storm compelling even the World Health Organisation to temporarily suspend an international trial on the HCQ. However, following an internal audit, the trial has been resumed.
"On June 4, three authors of the paper, “Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis”, retracted their study. They were unable to complete an independent audit of the data underpinning their analysis. As a result, they have concluded that they can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources," the journal said in a statement.
"The Lancet takes issues of scientific integrity extremely seriously, and there are many outstanding questions about Surgisphere (the company that provided the data) and the data that were allegedly included in this study," it said.
A second paper that uses the same dataset and published in the New England Journal of Medicine also stands withdrawn.
Mehra and two of his fellow researchers Frank Ruschitzka and Amit N Patel also issued a statement withdrawing the controversial study.
"After the publication of our Lancet Article, several concerns were raised with respect to the veracity of the data and analyses conducted by Surgisphere Corporation and its founder and our co-author, Sapan Desai, in our publication," the trio wrote.
The scientist said their own probe could not make much headway due to legal complications as the persons investigating the data set weren't given access to many documents due to legal reasons.
"We always aspire to perform our research in accordance with the highest ethical and professional guidelines. We can never forget the responsibility we have as researchers to scrupulously ensure that we rely on data sources that adhere to our high standards. Based on this development, we can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources. Due to this unfortunate development, the authors request that the paper be retracted" they wrote to the journal editor.
"We all entered this collaboration to contribute in good faith and at a time of great need during the COVID-19 pandemic. We deeply apologise to you, the editors, and the journal readership for any embarrassment or inconvenience that this may have caused," they added.
"Following guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), institutional reviews of Surgisphere’s research collaborations are urgently needed," noted the Lancet.