Lancet, NEJM Retract Surgisphere Studies on COVID-19 Patients

All authors other than company founder and CEO Sapan Desai were “unable to complete an independent audit of the data,” The Lancet states.

Written byCatherine Offord

| 3 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

3:00

ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, LILIBOAS

Two controversial studies of COVID-19 patients have been retracted after the authors failed to demonstrate that the data were reliable. The first study to be retracted, published last month (May 22) in The Lancet, had found harmful effects associated with the antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, but quickly drew fire after scientists raised questions about the massive database supposedly underpinning it, and about that database’s owner, Surgisphere Corporation.

Today, three authors—all the coauthors on the study except Surgisphere founder and CEO Sapan Desai—contacted The Lancet to retract their report. “They were unable to complete an independent audit of the data underpinning their analysis,” the retraction notice in The Lancet reads. “As a result, they have concluded that they ‘can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources.’”

The three coauthors are Mandeep Mehra, the medical director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, ...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
View Full Profile