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Prognosis

Researchers Retract Study Linking Malaria Pill to Heart Risk

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  • Lancet study is retracted after questions about data
  • NEJM study also retracted after Surgisphere data controversy
A pharmacy tech holds pills of Hydroxychloroquine.
A pharmacy tech holds pills of Hydroxychloroquine.

Photographer: GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images

A study that said a malaria drug backed by President Donald Trump to treat and prevent coronavirus raised the risk of heart side effects and death has been retracted by the authors.

The study was published on May 22 in the Lancet, a prestigious U.K. medical journal. Questions soon arose about the accuracy of the underlying data, said researchers led by Mandeep Mehra, the medical director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, in the retraction note published by the journal Thursday.