Journal Publisher Concerned over Hydroxychloroquine Study

The report by Didier Raoult and colleagues that examined the use of the anti-malarial drug in a small number of COVID-19 patients receives criticism from the very society that published it.

Written byKerry Grens

| 2 min read

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Update (April 13): Elsevier, copublisher of the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, issued a statement on April 11 that “additional independent peer review is ongoing to ascertain whether concerns about the research content of the paper have merit.”

With little evidence to back him, President Donald Trump has championed an anti-malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. His endorsement has led to hoarding and shortages for lupus patients who rely on the medicine.

While it may turn out to be an effective drug—and a number of clinical trials are aiming to find out—the clinical data so far are preliminary and, it turns out, possibly problematic.

According to a statement issued April 3 by the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC), the vanguard study cited by Trump and others in their endorsement of hydroxychloroquine “does not meet the Society’s expected standard, especially relating to the ...

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Meet the Author

Kerry Grens
Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.
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