From "Chicago and the WHO", files: A mysterious company’s coronavirus papers in top medical journals may be unraveling | AAAS
Noting that the AAAS (American Academy for the Advancement of Science) lays claim to being the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world.
Surgisphere, which provided patient data for two other high-profile COVID-19 papers, has come under withering online scrutiny from researchers and amateur sleuths. They have pointed out many red flags in the Lancet paper, including the astonishing number of patients involved and details about their demographics and prescribed dosing that seem implausible. “It began to stretch and stretch and stretch credulity.
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Today, The Lancet issued an Expression of Concern (EOC) saying “important scientific questions have been raised about data” in the paper.
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The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) issued its own EOC about a second study using Surgisphere data.
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Chicago-based Surgisphere has not publicly released the data underlying the studies.
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“The whole world thinks now that these drugs are poisonous.”
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cited the Lancet results in announcing a “temporary pause” in Solidarity’s hydroxychloroquine arm. Regulators in France and the United Kingdom also instructed investigators, including White’s team, to halt enrollment in trials of the malaria drug.
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The study also reported more deaths in Australian hospitals than the country’s official COVID-19 death statistics
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“We want to reassure people that the WHO didn’t make any kind of value judgment on the use of hydroxychloroquine.”
But some say WHO had a knee-jerk reaction to a questionable study. “This is a drug that has been used for decades. It’s not like we know nothing about its safety,” says Miguel Hernán, a Harvard epidemiologist and co-investigator on an ongoing trial of hydroxychloroquine in Spain and Latin America for COVID-19 prevention in health care workers.
...
Today, The Lancet issued an Expression of Concern (EOC) saying “important scientific questions have been raised about data” in the paper.
...
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) issued its own EOC about a second study using Surgisphere data.
...
Chicago-based Surgisphere has not publicly released the data underlying the studies.
...
“The whole world thinks now that these drugs are poisonous.”
...
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cited the Lancet results in announcing a “temporary pause” in Solidarity’s hydroxychloroquine arm. Regulators in France and the United Kingdom also instructed investigators, including White’s team, to halt enrollment in trials of the malaria drug.
...
The study also reported more deaths in Australian hospitals than the country’s official COVID-19 death statistics
...
“We want to reassure people that the WHO didn’t make any kind of value judgment on the use of hydroxychloroquine.”
But some say WHO had a knee-jerk reaction to a questionable study. “This is a drug that has been used for decades. It’s not like we know nothing about its safety,” says Miguel Hernán, a Harvard epidemiologist and co-investigator on an ongoing trial of hydroxychloroquine in Spain and Latin America for COVID-19 prevention in health care workers.
Noting that the AAAS (American Academy for the Advancement of Science) lays claim to being the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world.
