The scientific world seems to be divided as rarely in its history around the hydroxychloroquine. Not so much about the effectiveness of the treatment against the sars coronavirus in the manner in which the studies are conducted. In an open letter published Thursday night, dozens of scientists to express their “concerns” about the methods of the extensive study, published in the Lancet, which led to the suspension of clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine.
Published on 22 may, the study is based on data from some 96 000 patients hospitalized between December and April in 671 hospitals, and compares the state of those who have received the treatment to that of patients who have not had. It concludes that the controversial hydroxychloroquine does not appear to be beneficial to the sick of the Covid-19, and could even be detrimental.
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A call to WHO
The impact of this study has “led many researchers around the world to scrutinise, in detail, the publication in question,” write the authors of the open letter published Thursday evening. “This review has raised both concerns related to the methodology and the integrity of the data “, they say, before you make a long list of problematic points, the refusal of the authors to provide access to data in the absence of the” ethical review “.
Noting that the media coverage around this study has caused considerable concern among patients and participants “in clinical trials, they call for the establishment by the world health Organization (WHO), or another institution,” independent and respected “, a group tasked with conducting an independent analysis of the conclusions of the study. Among the signatories of this open letter are clinicians, statisticians and other researchers around the world, from Harvard to Imperial College London.
An employee of Didier Raoult a signatory to the forum
” I have serious doubts about the benefits of treatment with chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine against the Covid-19, and I look forward to this story ends, but I believe that the integrity of the research can not only be invoked when an item does not go in the direction of our preconceptions “, commented on Twitter the Pr François Balloux, University College London. Also, ” it is with a heavy heart that I have added my name to the open letter “, he added.
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Among the signatories is also the French Philippe Parola, a collaborator of professor Didier Raoult in Marseille, proponent French of hydroxychloroquine, which has largely contributed to popularize this treatment. The publication of the study in the Lancet last week has led the WHO to suspend ” temporarily “, by way of precaution, the inclusion of new patients in clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine, carried out with partners in several countries. And France has decided to ban the molecule to treat the Covid-19.
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