
A study out of thin air - valinsky
https://www.medicineuncensored.com/a-study-out-of-thin-air
======
ListeningPie
Summary: Because of one report in the Lancet By a shady corporation called
Surgisphere the WHO stopped all further research into hydroxychloroquine.

The article makes a strong case the Surgisphere is shady and the study is
badly made but other than timing (paper published 22, ban started 25th) the
article does not provide any further information that the Surgisphere study
was the source of the WHO decision.

I quoted the unsupported accusation below.

Instead of performing its own due diligence, the WHO immediately relied on an
observational study cloaked in the reputation of the nearly 200-year old
medical journal The Lancet.

~~~
scotty79
And people scoff at reporters and journalists that they don't check their
sources... Apparently almost nobody does. We have copy/paste information
ecosphere.

~~~
ListeningPie
To be fair, finding out all the information about Surgisphere probably took a
lot time. Working on free projects myself there just comes a point where I've
spent all the energy I was willing to put into a piece of work.

Edit: Nevermind. The author of the article is the bit-coin investor how first
tweeted about Chloroquine being a potential cure,
[https://www.wired.com/story/an-old-malaria-drug-may-fight-
co...](https://www.wired.com/story/an-old-malaria-drug-may-fight-covid-19-and-
silicon-valleys-into-it/)

~~~
m0zg
He's not the only one pointing this out, though:
[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/29/covid-19-surgi...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/29/covid-19-surgisphere-
hydroxychloroquine-study-lancet-coronavirus-who-questioned-by-researchers-
medical-professionals), and the "study" is very easily verifiable as
horseshit.

------
thaumaturgy
This site's front page has got a lot of red flags on it. There's another
treatment of this over on sciencemag:
[https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/mysterious-
company-s...](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/mysterious-company-s-
coronavirus-papers-top-medical-journals-may-be-unraveling)

This would be a pretty serious black eye for both The Lancet and the WHO,
which has already been under scrutiny from multiple countries.

However, it's worth pointing out that this wasn't the only study on HCQ. There
have been others: [https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-
perspective/2020/05/studies-...](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-
perspective/2020/05/studies-find-further-lack-covid-benefit-
hydroxychloroquine)

 _If_ the Surgisphere observational study turns out to be erroneous, it could
knock another leg out from under the WHO, and if it turns out to be
fraudulent, everyone involved with it deserves jail time. It'll be terrible in
either case that it resulted in a bunch of other trials and studies being
canceled.

~~~
sampo
Lots of hydroxychloroquine studies or preprints have been published, and they
mostly observe that the effect is close to zero (in good or in bad), either
because there is no effect, or the study size was too small to detect other
than large effects. But this now infamous study was the only one to suggest a
clear and large negative effect.

~~~
Fjolsvith
So, if hydroxychloroquine is not effective, what explains an extremely low
COVID death rate such as what Bangladesh (a country with endemic Malaria [1])
has?

Bangladesh population: 161 million [2]

Bangladesh COVID deaths: 811 [3]

Bangladesh COVID death rate: 811/161m = 0.000503%

1\.
[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-1...](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X\(13\)70176-1/fulltext#:~:text=Malaria%20is%20endemic%20in%2013,Program%20\(NMCP\)%20in%202007).

2\.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=bangladesh+population&rlz=1C...](https://www.google.com/search?q=bangladesh+population&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS798US798&oq=bangladesh+population&aqs=chrome..69i57.4075j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

3\.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=bangladesh+number+of+covid+d...](https://www.google.com/search?q=bangladesh+number+of+covid+deaths&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS798US798&oq=bangladesh+number+of+covid+deaths&aqs=chrome..69i57.8348j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

~~~
perl4ever
It really worries me how people are aggressively framing the pandemic as
something in the past, and using talking points that are based on a month or
two ago. It's necessary to pay attention to what's been happening in May and
June.

Bangladesh indeed has a much lower case and death rate so far than the hardest
hit countries. But the number of daily new cases is rapidly increasing and in
fact is now within the top 10 countries in the whole world. Total cases are
increasing 5% a day, which is among the highest growth rates.

------
lgats
Trademark filings tell a similar story
[https://uspto.report/Search/Surgisphere](https://uspto.report/Search/Surgisphere)

------
seesawtron
The trials are beginning again as per WHO decision now.

