"We can no longer vouch for the veracity of the sources of the primary data", write the three authors to The Lancet. The three scientists, who contributed to the development of this controversial study, finally withdrew their signature from the article, on June 4, questioning the refusal of the company Surgisphere to give them access to the database.

Published on May 22 in the famous British medical journal, the study concluded that hydroxychloroquine was not beneficial to hospitalized Covid-19 patients, and could even be harmful. Its publication had a worldwide impact, pushing in particular the WHO to suspend its clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine. 

But critics were quick to come, on the part of the defenders of the molecule - like the French researcher and infectiologist, Didier Raoult, describing the study as "messy" -, as skeptical scientists on the interest of this drug for treat patients with Covid-19. On Wednesday, the WHO finally announced the resumption of clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine.

Doubts about the reliability of the data 

The main criticisms concerned the reliability of the data from this study (96,000 patients from 671 hospitals) collected by Surgisphere, a health data analysis company headed by Sapan Desai, fourth author of the article. The authors then responded by announcing an "independent" audit of their results and the origin of the data. But three of them, including the main one, Mandeep Mehra, finally threw in the towel.

>> Read also: Covid-19: the strange enterprise behind the WHO flip-flop on hydroxychloroquine

Surgisphere has refused to communicate the data, invoking confidentiality agreements with its customers. The study authors were, in fact, "unable to conduct an independent review and informed us of their withdrawal from the peer review process," they write in the text published Thursday by The Lancet, presenting "their deepest apologies".

In its press release, The Lancet, assuring that it takes "questions of scientific integrity very seriously", considers it "urgent" to evaluate other collaborations with Surgisphere.

Questions still pending on Surgisphere

"There are still unanswered questions about Surgisphere and the data allegedly included in this study," insists the journal, which had already published a warning Tuesday evening in the form of an "expression of concern". ].

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), which had published a study by the same team carried out with the data from Surgisphere, on the link between mortality due to Covid-19 and heart disease, also announced Thursday the retraction of this work.

Dr Desai, who has defended from the start the "integrity" of his data, for his part declined any comments Thursday.

With AFP 

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