BREAKING: Surgisphere Corp was caught falsifying data for the Lancet study on hydroxychloroquine which caused WHO to halt trials for Covid-19

In an exclusive report from Guardian newspaper, Australian infectious researchers are raising questions about a study published in the Lancet which prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to halt global trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19. The researchers query origin of data used for Lancet study, but stress there is no evidence drug is a safe or effective treatment.

As we reported last Friday, a large observational study analysed data from nearly 15,000 patients with COVID-19 patients published on Friday in the medical journal The Lancet found those being treated with the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are at a higher risk of death and irregular heart rhythms than those not receiving it. It’s worth noting that this study comes four days after President Trump said he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection.

The findings prompted researchers from around the world to reassess their own clinical trials of the drug for preventing and treating Covid-19. WHO also halted all its trials involving hydroxychloroquine due to the concerns raised in the study about its efficacy and safety.

The Lancet study, led by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for Advanced Heart Disease in Boston, examined patients in hospitals around the world, including in Australia. It said researchers gained access to data from five hospitals recording 600 Australian Covid-19 patients and 73 Australian deaths as of 21 April.

However, according to Guardian, data from Johns Hopkins University shows only 67 deaths from Covid-19 had been recorded in Australia by 21 April. The number did not rise to 73 until 23 April. The data relied upon by researchers to draw their conclusions in the Lancet is not readily available in Australian clinical databases, leading many to ask where it came from.

The report has already generated uproar on social media with one doctor asking, “Is this real life?”

So Surgisphere Corp was caught falsifying data for the Lancet study on hydroxychloroquine

Hospitals deny ever sharing patient data w/ this mysterious database

When asked to reveal the hospitals the data came from, Surgisphere refused

Is this real life?https://t.co/mvoBpE8IrE

— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) May 28, 2020

The Lancet told Guardian Australia: “We have asked the authors for clarifications, we know that they are investigating urgently, and we await their reply.” The lead author of the study, Dr Mandeep Mehra, said he had contacted Surgisphere, the company that provided the data, to reconcile the discrepancies with “the utmost urgency”. Surgisphere is described as a healthcare data analytics and medical education company.

In a statement, Surgisphere founder Dr Sapan Desai, also an author on the Lancet paper, said a hospital from Asia had accidentally been included in the Australian data.

“We have reviewed our Surgisphere database and discovered that a new hospital that joined the registry on April 1, and self-designated as belonging to the Australasia continental designation,” the spokesman said. “In reviewing the data from each of the hospitals in the registry, we noted that this hospital had a nearly 100% composition of Asian race and a relatively high use of chloroquine compared to non-use in Australia. This hospital should have more appropriately been assigned to the Asian continental designation.”

You can read the rest of the story at Guardian.