Lancet study that said malaria drugs led to higher coronavirus death rates retracted as authors say they cannot verify data
- Trials of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were halted by World Health Organisation as a result of study, but scientists now admit they cannot verify data on which it was based
- Donald Trump’s promotion of drugs as treatment for Covid-19 had already prompted controversy over their effectiveness
The Lancet has retracted a paper that claims two malaria drugs used to treat Covid-19 could lead more deaths after its authors admitted they could not verify the data on which it was based.
The paper, published on May 22, led to trials of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine being halted by the World Health Organisation and the British government.
The paper used data provided by US company Surgisphere, that it said was based on patient data from 671 hospitals in six continents.
However, an open letter published online signed by over 200 scientists, including James Watson, from the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit and Professor Peter Hornby, an Oxford University specialist in infectious diseases, highlighted inconsistencies in the data.