FRAUD SUSPECTED: Scientists and Doctors Critical of Lancet Article on Hydroxychloroquine
Sources compiled by Senta Depuydt
June 3, 2020 UPDATE:
Expression of concern: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis
Published:June 03, 2020 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31290-3“Important scientific questions have been raised about data reported in the paper by Mandeep Mehra et al—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis1—published in The Lancet on May 22, 2020. Although an independent audit of the provenance and validity of the data has been commissioned by the authors not affiliated with Surgisphere and is ongoing, with results expected very shortly, we are issuing an Expression of Concern to alert readers to the fact that serious scientific questions have been brought to our attention. We will update this notice as soon as we have further information.”
And in regards to another study about hydroxychloroquine that involved the database and Surgisphere:
Expression of Concern: Mehra MR et al. Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19.
Eric J. Rubin, M.D., Ph.D.
Published June 2, 2020DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe2020822
“On May 1, 2020, we published “Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19,”1 a study of the effect of preexisting treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) on Covid-19. This retrospective study used data drawn from an international database that included electronic health records from 169 hospitals on three continents. Recently, substantive concerns have been raised about the quality of the information in that database. We have asked the authors to provide evidence that the data are reliable. In the interim and for the benefit of our readers, we are publishing this Expression of Concern about the reliability of their conclusions.”
Below is our original article:
Existing effective treatments supported by frontline practitioners in hospitals and clinics are being censored or dismissed, and at times, unduly criticized. We’ve written about the MATH+ Protocol, HBOT, and Nutritional Therapies, as well as nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Glutathione. No treatment has been more maligned in the U.S. than hydroxychloroquine, (which we wrote about in February) despite worldwide evidence that–when used early and appropriately, such as with zinc–has the ability to either prevent infection or to prevent severe disease. And top U.S. health officials, such as Dr. Tony Fauci, have discouraged its use, saying there is not sufficient evidence, despite worldwide evidence to the contrary, and despite a 2005 NIH study that showed the potential for hydroxychloroquine to treat SARS, a close cousin to today’s SARS-COV-2.
“Chloroquine, a relatively safe, effective and cheap drug used for treating many human diseases including malaria, amoebiosis and human immunodeficiency virus is effective in inhibiting the infection and spread of SARS CoV in cell culture. The fact that the drug has significant inhibitory antiviral effect when the susceptible cells were treated either prior to or after infection suggests a possible prophylactic and therapeutic use.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16115318/
It’s been disturbing that the appropriate “Compassionate Use” of hydroxychloroquine has become politicized–but the world’s spotlight on anything COVID-19 related means all eyes are watching, and for the first time, major issues with how science is performed and published are being reported on by the mainstream. Medical and research experts are being highly critical of a study in the Lancet. Scientific fraud may have been committed in order to benefit those who stand to profit from new drugs and vaccines — new products whose necessity would be limited by the successful use of an existing inexpensive drug. Immediately following the recent publication of the study, which concluded hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) or chloroquine was associated with increased death and ventricular arrhythmias, the criticism began.
Calling a study “fraud” is serious. Legitimate, valid science can be called fraud to serve an ulterior motive, such as what happened to a now famous study published in the 1998. And journal editors can publish fraudulent studies to further their financial interests, or those of their partners. The volume and variety of criticism shows this accusation by those in the medical and scientific field to likely be the latter–a study published to further the interests of others– although, why they thought they could get away with it is a mystery under the current spotlight conditions.
From the New York Times: Scientists Question Validity of Major Hydroxychloroquine Study
“More than 100 scientists and clinicians have questioned the authenticity of a massive hospital database that was the basis for an influential study published last week that concluded that treating people who have Covid-19 with chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine did not help and might have increased the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and death.”
Hydroxychloroquine Lancet Study: Former France Health Minister blows the whistle
More criticism:
A Study Out of Thin Air by James M Todaro, MD (Columbia MD) https://www.medicineuncensored.com/a-study-out-of-thin-air
Article in the Guardian: Questions raised over hydroxychloroquine study which caused WHO to halt trials for Covid-19
Surgisphere, the company that provided the source, appears to be fraudulent. Only one man is involved in the medical malpractice, along with four marketing people. “Court records in Cook County, Illinois, show that Desai is named in three medical malpractice lawsuits filed in the second half of 2019”
Conflicts of interest: Dr. Mandeep Mehra, the lead author of the Lancet paper, works for the Brigham Hospital in Boston that has a partnership with Gilead and is currently testing Remdesivir.
Dr. Mehra’s research on cardiac pumps is financed by Abbot who is currently developing antibody serology tests for Covid 19.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180604155448.htm
The entire world is watching and commenting.
Marocco & Algeria disagree with WHO full text
https://www.afrik.com/covid-19-et-hydroxychloroquine-le-maroc-et-l-algerie-recadrent-l-oms
(Automatic english translation below)
While the WHO has called for a temporary suspension of testing of hydroxychloroquine as part of the fight against coronavirus, Morocco and Algeria, which say they have recorded convincing results with chloroquine, do not intend to change their strategy. These two North African countries are thus in line with WHO recommendations.
The debate about hydroxychloroquine in the fight against Covid-19, if it continues elsewhere, has been closed in Morocco. While the World Health Organization has just suspended the trials, particularly after the publication of a study in The Lancet, the prestigious British journal specialized in scientific research, because “the risk of death associated with this treatment is too high”, the Kingdom of Morocco intends to continue with the so-called Raoult protocol.
While in France, the High Council of Public Health recommends limiting the use of hydroxychloroquine, in Morocco, the health authorities have decided to continue the chloroquine treatment. Indeed, according to the Moroccan press, L’Economiste in particular, “Morocco, which has generalized treatment with Chloroquine, does not adhere to the conclusions of the study by the British journal The Lancet nor to the WHO’s decision concerning the “temporary” suspension of studies conducted with hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine”.
According to the Moroccan government, “Opinions differ. But the main thing is that Chloroquine is involved in viral inactivation. According to Khalidt Taleb, Moroccan Minister of Health, “the virus infects the host by entering the cell in several stages. One of the stages is inhibited by chloroquine”. The Moroccan press recalls that the royal authorities had announced, on 8 April last, the “start of treatment with chloroquine and the control of cure in Covid-19 patients”.
Read: Didier Raoult: “Doliprane is more dangerous than hydroxychloroquine” (video)
The Economist recalls that “of the 7,556 cases of Covid-19 identified in Morocco as of May 26, 2020, at 10:00 am, 4,841 are cured by following the Chloroquine Protocol. The others are being treated”. The newspaper, recalling the positive effects observed on patients treated according to the protocol adopted by the scientific committee, Khalid had “authorized this treatment for possible cases of symptomatic Covid-19, without waiting for virology results, and while considering stopping treatment if the test proves negative”.
Anesthetist and resuscitator in Fez, Dr. Mounir Mikou believes that “Morocco is right to maintain its treatment protocol which has proven its therapeutic effectiveness (…)”. He deplores: “Like many scientists, I want to cry out my frustration about the untruths surrounding this disease and the multitude of studies that confuse us and create a lack of confidence and credibility.
In Algeria, Dr. Mohamed Bekkat, a member of the scientific committee monitoring the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic and president of the Algerian Medical Council, told AFP: “We have treated thousands of cases with this drug with great success to date. And we have not noted any adverse reactions”, adding that “we have not recorded any deaths linked to the use of Chloroquine”.
Algeria full text
(Automatic english translation below)
Algeria will not give up the controversial use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment against the new coronavirus, despite the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to suspend clinical trials, a member of the pandemic monitoring committee said Tuesday, May 26.
“We have treated thousands of cases with this drug with great success to date. And we have not noted any adverse reactions,” Dr. Mohamed Bekkat, a member of the scientific committee monitoring the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic in Algeria, told AFP. “We have not recorded any deaths related to the use of [hydroxy]chloroquine,” said Dr. Bekkat, also president of the Council of the Algerian Medical Association.
See also Coronavirus: Wearing masks in Algeria becomes compulsory in public spaces
Algeria had decided at the end of March to treat patients with the new coronavirus with a double treatment of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, an antibiotic. “For confirmed cases, we use hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. Then there is a whole protocol for serious cases,” a health ministry official told AFP on Monday.
Judged ineffective, even harmful
Since the end of March, thousands of contaminated Algerians have received treatment based on hydroxychloroquine, according to Dr. Djamel Fourar, spokesman for the scientific committee monitoring the evolution of the pandemic.
The WHO announced on Monday May 25 that it had “temporarily” suspended the clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine that it is conducting with its partners in several countries, as a precautionary measure. This decision follows the publication of a study in the medical journal The Lancet that found that the use of chloroquine or its derivatives, such as hydroxychloroquine, against the new coronavirus is ineffective or even harmful.
Article reserved for our subscribers Read also Coronavirus: in Algeria, the epidemic is used for repression
For Dr. Bekkat, the study is “confusing” because it “seems to involve serious cases in which hydroxychloroquine is of no help. “It is noteworthy that the use of [hydroxy]chloroquine by Arab and African countries has been shown to be effective when used early,” he said.
Algeria is one of the countries most affected in Africa by the new coronavirus. A total of 8,503 cases and 609 deaths have been officially recorded there since 25 February.
Le Monde with AFP, Published in Le Monde with AFP (Agence France Presse) May 27th
The open letter to the Lancet from a long list of MDs & PhDs: An open letter to Mehra et al and The Lancet
The article showing that Spanish FDA is also questioning the Lancet
The Letter of the RECOVERY study saying they reviewed their data in response to the Lancet article and, disagree on findings. They see no reason to suspend their trials with hydroxychloroquine
Didier Raoult latest results: EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF COVID-19 PATIENTS: A REAL-LIFE COHORT STUDY OF 3,737 PATIENTS, MARSEILLE, FRANCE
