AN UNPARDONABLE ACT

A US based Contact Research organization (CRO) company “ SURGISPHERE“ FROM Chicago has brought 2 of the most prestigious international journals (LANCET and New Engl J of Medicine) into shame by fudging data on 2 very important drugs. Hydroxy Chloroquine and Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB’s). One showed hydroxy-chloroquine has no benefit , instead increased cardiac mortality (LANCET Paper) and the other cast doubts on ARB’s in patients of hypertension getting COVID (NEJM). These articles had been published on 22nd May and 2nd May 2020 respectively. Both the articles were retracted by the authors on 4th of June.

Dr Sapan Desai is the founder of SURGISPHERE and when asked to give the raw data declined and instead retracted the articles in question along with the senior author Mandeep R. Mehra, M.D.Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, Boston, MA .

The motive of this fudging seems to be much more than improving the CV. I hope this intellectual dishonesty is severely punished. This is playing with the lives of people by denying cost effective treatment in these difficult times with a disease which we are still trying to learn about.