Publisher of hydroxychloroquine study touted by Trump says the research didn't meet its standards:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/health/drug-hydroxychloroquine-french-study/index.html
President Trump has been a cheerleader for the drug hydroxychloroquine, pointing in a tweet and in person to a French study as evidence that one particular drug combination might be "one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."
But now the medical society that published that French research has issued
a statement saying the study "does not meet the Society's expected standard."
Dr. Kevin Tracey, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York City, gave an even more pointed assessment of the French research.
"The study was a complete failure," he said.
"It was pathetic," added
Art Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine.
The
small French study of 20 people found that taking hydroxychloroquine was associated with the "viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients," noting that the effect was "reinforced" with azithromycin, an antibiotic better known as a Z-pack.
Tracey and Caplan pointed out that several patients who took the drug, and ended up faring poorly, dropped out of the trial, and their outcomes were not factored into the study's final conclusions.
The International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy published the study online in its journal, the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, on March 20.
"Although ISAC recognises it is important to help the scientific community by publishing new data fast, this cannot be at the cost of reducing scientific scrutiny and best practices," according to the April 3 statement by Andreas Voss, the president of the society.
Voss noted that one of the study authors, Jean-Marc Rolain, is editor-in-chief of the medical journal.
"Despite some suggestions online as to the reliability of the article's peer review process, the process did adhere to the industry's peer review rules," Voss wrote. "Given his role as Editor in Chief of this journal, Jean-Marc Rolain had no involvement in the peer review of the manuscript and has no access to information regarding its peer review."
Voss, Rolain and Didier Raoult, a lead study author, did not immediately respond to CNN emails seeking comment...