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WEDNESDAY, June 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Two premiere medical journals are questioning the validity of the data in two studies: one that showed the use of blood pressure drugs was safe in COVID-19 patients and another that showed the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine was dangerous, the Associated Press<\/i> reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A study published May 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/i> claimed that certain blood pressure drugs were not raising the risk for death for COVID-19 patients. The journal’s editors have now questioned the quality of the data and asked the researchers for more evidence.<\/p>\n
The British journal The Lancet<\/i> has also questioned the validity of data in a study that said the use of malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine was linked to an increased risk for death for COVID-19 patients. The Lancet<\/i> research caused the World Health Organization to halt an ongoing French hydroxychloroquine study, and France has stopped using the drug in its hospitals.<\/p>\n
Both studies now being questioned relied on the same data, which was provided by the Chicago-based company Surgisphere Corp. Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said the authors of the New England Journal of Medicine<\/i> paper have started an audit of their data, and data from The Lancet<\/i> paper will be reevaluated too, the AP<\/i> reported. Surgisphere said it stands behind the findings of both studies.<\/p>\n
AP News<\/i> Article<\/a><\/p>\n Expression of Concern: The Lancet<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n