Disputed Hydroxychloroquine Study Published in Lancet Brings Scientific Scrutiny to Surgisphere, the Company Behind the Study

The Scientist ^ | 05/30/2020 | Catherine Offord

[TBP]

It’s politics, not science — just another effort to damage President Trump.

[freeandfreezing]

No need for an audit, just publish the data. It should have already been anonymized, if not then that should be done.

Given the difficulty in accessing medical records anywhere it seems unlikely that a complete set of electronically recorded patient data would be available so quickly in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, reconciling the different formats of electronically stored medical information from around the world is a complex problem.

That doesn't sound like something that a couple of people in an office somewhere can pull off in a few weeks.

The whole story sounds implausible. It is time to either show the data or retract the study.

[freeandfreezing]

There are a lot of unusual aspects to the Surgisphere story. This article by Free Range Statistics has a comprehensive list of reasons to doubt the veracity of the data.

[freeandfreezing]

The code behind the supposedly "machine learning" based Surgisphere Covid-19 severity scoring tool is just simple conditional code - the kind of thing a college student writes as a homework assignment.

The programmers among us can just do a view source on the page and see for themselves.

It may have some utility, but is no more sophisticated than a chart with statements like "If the patient has a temperature of 104 degrees and their blood oxygen level is less than 80% then they are in critical condition"

That seems like something a first year medical student would know regardless of the disease.

[freeandfreezing]

The company does not have any visible technologists. But they also apparently have a "copy writer"

"Hi! I'm a copywriter with a focus on content strategy and content marketing. In an ever-evolving corporate landscape, copywriting is more than an option. It's a necessity. Business owners like you need content that's strategically written, optimized for search, and speaks with a voice your target market understands.

That's where I come in. I help businesses grow by using my copywriting, content marketing, and graphic design skills to use creating beautifully written and well-designed content such as white papers, email marketing campaigns, and blogs that are attractive, informative, and effective.

If you're looking for a writer who's more than just a wordsmith but builds their work on a strong foundation of strategy, brand awareness, and optimization, get in touch!

I'd love to work with you."

Somebody has to write all the fluff on the website after all.

[FreedomPoster]

Thanks, that’s quite interesting. Great one line summary:

We have a very dodgy company, unknown actors supporting them, a press that made no effort to investigate, a journal that published shoddy work, and a NGO that took this at face value.

To which I would add “to suppress usage of a very promising, very cheap therapeutic drug for Covid-19 with no past history of high risk despite massive use.”

If HCQ is as risky as the detractors say, there should be bodies of Lupus and RA patients stacked like cordwood.

[mewzilla]

More on LancetGate...

LancetGate: Pulling a Fast One on Proponents of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine Shaky data from a leading medical journal that progressive opinion has swallowed with delight.