| Two weeks ago, it looked like we had a clear indication on hydroxychloroquine's safety. Analysis of the medical records of 96,000 Covid patients showed that those treated with the drug and a related antimalarial were at higher risk of death and heart abnormalities than people who hadn't received them. It wasn't a gold standard trial – a prospective, unbiased comparison to a placebo – but the Big Data looked convincing, and researchers cautiously backed away from adding more subjects to their trials. Now, the study that raised the concerns has been retracted after questions arose about the integrity of the medical records database, profiled in a story by Bloomberg's Helene Fouquet and Robert Langreth. That threatens to tarnish The Lancet, a trusted medical journal that published it, and the researchers who worked on the report.  Photographer: Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg Photographer: Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg It also lengthens the political shadow over the role of science in the pandemic. Ever since U.S. President Donald Trump called the decades-old pill a "game-changer,'' it's become a lapel pin for supporters. The U.S. purchased millions of doses, and regulators quickly approved it for emergency use – then cautioned it should only be used in hospitals and clinical trials. Believers rushed to get doses, depleting supplies for those who take the drugs for proven uses in malaria, one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, along with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Politics keeps coloring the response to the pandemic. Every question from the source of the virus to whether people should wear masks into grocery stores has taken on tinges of red and blue. As Bloomberg's Marthe Fourcade and Michelle Fay Cortez report, that's leaving doctors adrift, having to make treatment decisions for deathly ill people without sound, impartial data. "It makes no sense in the middle of a pandemic that we aren't laser-focused on learning as quickly as possible," said Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. "It's frustrating. It matters. There are people dying.''—John Lauerman | 
Post a Comment