Lancet, NEJM Retract COVID-19 Studies for Suspect Data

The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) yesterday retracted separate studies of two different COVID-19 treatments because of concerns over the underlying data provided by the same data analytics company, Surgisphere.

The authors of one study linking chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to increased risks of death in COVID-19 patients withdrew The Lancet article, saying they were unable to validate the supporting data held by Surgisphere.

The authors said that Surgisphere would not give independent reviewers the full data set for the trial because the company claimed it would violate client agreements and confidentiality requirements.

“Based on this development, we can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources,” the authors wrote. They apologized to The Lancet and its readers for “any embarrassment or inconvenience” caused by the study.

The Lancet had already alerted its readers to “serious scientific questions” raised in the study. It had previously said that an independent audit of the data had been commissioned, and that results were expected “shortly” (DID, June 4).

The large international study evaluated 96,032 hospitalized COVID-19 patients from six continents in the past few months, of which 14,888 took the antimalarials. Results reported in The Lancet showed the drugs offered no benefit and caused deaths and cardiac arrhythmias (DID, May 26).

Meanwhile, the NEJM retracted a separate study that evaluated a possible link between two types of blood pressure drugs and the risk of death from COVID-19.

That trial reported data on 8,910 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 169 hospitals in Asia, Europe and North America. Results reported in NEJM found no link between fatal coronavirus infections and the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBS) (DID, May 5).

In retracting the study, the NEJM said that “substantive concerns” were raised about the quality of the data provided by Surgisphere.

Surgisphere did not respond to a request for comment. — Jordan Williams