COVID-19: Authors retract study on hydroxychloroquine which halted trials worldwide
Three of the authors of a study which found that taking an anti-malaria drug could increase the risk of mortality in COVID-19 patients retracted their paper on Thursday, Euronews reported.
The study, released on May 22 in The Lancet medical journal, led to several clinical trials into the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 being halted.
The Lancet said in a statement that the authors were "unable to complete an independent audit of the data underpinning their analysis" which had been provided by Surgisphere, a healthcare analytics company based in the US.
"As a result, they have concluded that they "can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources"," The Lancet statement added.