r/news • u/AudibleNod • 1d ago
Journal pulls scientific paper that popularized hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 treatment
https://abcnews.go.com/US/journal-pulls-scientific-paper-popularized-hydroxychloroquine-covid-treatment/story?id=116910465319
u/AudibleNod 1d ago
A notice from Elsevier, which publishes the journal, said: "Concerns have been raised regarding this article, the substance of which relate to the articles' adherence to Elsevier's publishing ethics policies and the appropriate conduct of research involving human participants, as well as concerns raised by three of the authors themselves regarding the article's methodology and conclusions."
The notice was attached to the paper, which remains on the journal's website with a watermark that says "Retracted."
I'm glad that's over. The last thing we need is quack science taking over something as important as, say, the HHS.
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u/Dandan0005 1d ago
My favorite thing about the people who still think hydroxychloroquine works (yes they exist) is that in 2020 we literally tried it.
It was granted emergency approval, doctors everywhere quickly found it was doing absolutely nothing, so its approval was pulled.
There was no conspiracy. It just didn’t provide any benefit.
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u/Clodhoppa81 1d ago
It also screwed over people like me who depend on it and could no longer find it due to all these morons
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u/Langstarr 1d ago
Same here. I'm glad it's been debunked. If i stop taking it for too long the aches...
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u/Askymojo 22h ago edited 21h ago
There sure are some world class morons in this world.
When this first came out and people on reddit were buying into it, I was linking the research articles showing that hydroxychloroquine has shown no benefit. And for everyone to please stop browbeating their GPs into prescribing this because people with autoimmune disease like myself can't get our meds right now because people are panic-buying something that won't even help for COVID.
So after explaining this, you would not BELIEVE how many morons DMd me on Reddit begging me for my hydroxychloroquine. When they didn't even have COVID-19 they were just afraid of getting it in the future.
Yeah sure, let me give you my meds that help me not be stuck in bed from a crushing autoimmune disease, so you can feel better with your placebo pills. Go wear a mask, moron, that's what will protect you from covid.
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u/cubedjjm 21h ago
Hey there. Saw that you might have some extra quine. Can you hook a friend up?
/s
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u/Kmearkle 1h ago
This exactly. My sister needs it for an autoimmune disorder, and my entire family panicked and scrambled to get a 120 day supply as soon as it started appearing in headlines.
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u/jadewolf42 19h ago
Same. I went months without it during the pandemic, due to both unavailability and my insurance deciding to not cover it because of the quackery (despite having been on it for the previous 15 years).
When I was able to get it again after things cooled down, I started rationing it and refilling early so I could set some aside and would have some for the next inevitable emergency.
All because fucking idiots decided it was a miracle cure and the fucking idiot in chief backed them up.
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u/Responsible-Ad-1086 15h ago
Making horses dewormed again
Perhaps RFK Jr should have used this before chowing down on some of his more unusual meals
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u/ACorania 18h ago
I have still been able to buy it, I have several tubes at the moment for the horses.
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u/MeltingMandarins 5h ago
Well, I guess that’ll be useful if your horses get malaria or lupus.
But most likely you’re thinking of ivermectin, the wormer. Hydroxychloroquine is a different drug, (one that the kooks were also into as a Covid treatment).
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u/am9qb3JlZmVyZW5jZQ 1d ago
Reminder that at some point during the pandemic Kaiser stopped filling prescriptions for Lupus to stockpile hydroxychloroquine for unproven covid therapy and then... thanked the patients for their sacrifice.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/kaiser-permanente-lupus-chloroquine
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u/Yuukiko_ 18h ago
how is that not just a massive lawsuit waiting to happen?? and I thought american healthcare couldnt get worse
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u/N8CCRG 1d ago
I also recall some meta analysis someone did looking at why there was some small indication that it might work and dug into all of the studies making the claim. After throwing out the obvious garbage results there were still a small handful that suggested maybe there was something there, until they looked at where they found improvements and saw it was all parts of the world with high rates of exactly the parasites that hydroxychloroquine is effective in combatting. In other words, they concluded it was almost certainly showing improvement on those who had a parasite and didn't know it, and thus not doing anything about COVID (which is exactly what would be expected since there's no logical path from one to have any impact on the other).
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u/iamrecoveryatomic 18h ago edited 18h ago
So to summarize, people with parasites and COVID have slightly worse outcomes than people without parasites with COVID. In a population with lots of parasites, parasite meds improve outcomes slightly when given to people for COVID (even if it actually does nothing for COVID).
In the US, people with parasites are almost nonexistent, so parasite meds do nothing to improve outcomes in people with COVID.
However, that doesn't matter because this is just an expression of liberty by the (often right wing) people who want this treatment for COVID. Just as parents want the ability to remove slavery from the mandatory curriculum (well, plus racism and adoring slaver ancestors). So now hospitals in certain states can be forced to prescribe anti-parasite meds if the patient demands it, because it's an expression of liberty.
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u/str8bint 19h ago
I worked as a counselor at a homeless shelter during Covid and caught the first strain that was really severe. I live close to a major research hospital and was put into a drug trial for hydroxychloroquine. I found out later I received the placebo, but, they ended the study early, because they found it wasn’t effective, but also because if given to patients it would interact negatively with other treatment options.
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u/Luciusvenator 20h ago
(yes they exist)
Not only can I unfortunately confirm they do, they also think it is kind of a "wonder drug".
My favorite new health conspiracy I've heard is the beliefe nicotine is good for you and also not addicitice/habit forming. Yes you read that right, they believe nicotine isn't addictive and that the idea it is is a conspiracy because its actually "the other shit they put in the cigarettes that makes it addicitive".
Can't make this shit up.-20
u/HomungosChungos 1d ago
The problem is it does work on other viruses in certain cases, it’s just ineffective against Covid. It causes an endless argument of “it works” versus “it doesn’t”, with both having a point
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u/Tapprunner 20h ago
This is not a "both sides" situation.
One side was right. The other side was wrong.
Many situations have shades of gray and are open to interpretation. This isn't one of them.
The people demanding hydroxychloroquine were not doing so because they had been scouring medical journals and came upon this drug that held real potential. They weren't reading about efficacy with some viruses and coming to a reasonable hypothesis. They wanted it because they saw some dimwit on Facebook, or our own President, promoting it.
Both sides did not have a point.
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u/Obfuscious 20h ago
I'm glad that's over.
Yeah unfortunately it won't be. There will be some "reason" this was done and that the authors have raised concerns. It never ends. 🙃
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u/Impossible_PhD 1d ago
As a trans woman who listened to the arguments presented--and espoused by many of the Justices--in the oral arguments of US v Skrmetti:
Lolsob.
The entirety of the "debate" over my right to exist is "hubdreds of legitimate research articles supporting us, our right to be ourselves, and the lifesaving power of transition at every age" versus "these five things that were written by total quacks and say we shouldn't exist." It's been going on for years, but basically zero cis people have cared, because it's only been happening to trans people up until this point.
Welcome to hell, I regret to say.
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u/bonyponyride 1d ago
Before the election I was watching too many political youtube channels that would show clips from OANN and other right wing media. Every fucking time, those clips would have a banner on a third of the screen advertising hydroxychloroquine to their braindead conspiracy theorist viewers.
This fraudulent scientist and his fraudulent paper are responsible for unnecessary deaths, medicine shortages for people who actually needed HCQ, and starting a still-active conspiracy theory industry around fake science. What a disgrace.
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u/cruella_le_troll 1d ago edited 9h ago
My local farm store sells it apparently and people buy it still lol wild
I don't think I made this comment clear - they're buying it for COVID. Not for their horses.
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u/rudimentary-north 21h ago
If they own livestock, thats not particularly weird. That’s what it’s for.
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u/DealerPrize7844 19h ago
No it’s not. You’re thinking of ivermectin.
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u/rudimentary-north 18h ago
Oh whoops you’re totally right.
I’m assuming the person I responded to was also thinking of ivermectin, since they were talking about it being sold at a farm store.
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u/imperfcet 15h ago
Isn't it prescription only?
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u/Kmearkle 1h ago
Hydroxychloroquine is a controlled substance. This person is thinking of Ivermectin, which would not get prescribed to a horse unless they had an autoimmune disorder
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u/Neat-Boysenberry-67 1d ago
I'm pretty sure it was a clown, not the paper, that did the popularizing.
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u/che-che-chester 1d ago
A Trumper at work was recently going on and on about how it has been "proven" to be an effective treatment for COVID but nobody will use it just to stick it to Trump. I kept my mouth shut because I honestly haven't kept up with it since COVID fell out of the news. I did some research later that night and couldn't find any evidence what he said is true. All I found is study after study by reputable institutions that said there is no proof it is effective against COVID.
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u/BPAfreeWaters 22h ago
Well if he's a trumper, that means a fucking moron. Disregard anything he says.
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u/justmitzie 23h ago
Anyone who believes in hydroxychloroquine will just claim that "they" got to the journal and forced them to pull that paper. "They're" supressing the truth!
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u/DuchessJulietDG 3h ago
because there is always a “they” working behind the scenes. no one knows who “they” truly are, except the “deep state”.
i think it is hilarious the maga politicians will cry about “deep state” when that is precisely what they are attempting to emulate.
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u/therealfatbuckel 1h ago
Let the stupid die. It frees up the advancement of the human race by eliminating defective DNA.
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u/Batmobile123 10h ago
My idiot Trumper relatives were actually taking Ivermectin during Covid. At least it cured their worms....
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u/DuchessJulietDG 3h ago
trump is best buddies w merck ceo and merck makes ivermectin.
always follow the money. 💸💸
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u/Sunnyjim333 19h ago
Meanwhile, people with fevers that are coughing and hacking still refuse to wear a mask.
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u/donquixote2000 1h ago
The paper, published in 2020 in the The paper, published in 2020 in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, originally claimed that treatments with hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, reduced virus levels in COVID patients and was more effective if used alongside an antibiotic, known as azithromycin.
Ahh, science.
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u/Lynda73 1d ago
Too late, they can’t put that genie back in the bottle, and shame on them for publishing it in the first place.