Surgisphere COVID-19 Hydroxychloroquine Study Was Fraudulent Data

In May 2020, The Lancet published a major study by Surgisphere, a small healthcare data analytics company, claiming that hydroxychloroquine not only failed to treat COVID-19 but actually increased mortality and cardiac arrhythmia risk. The paper came from data covering nearly 100,000 patients globally and seemed authoritative. It torpedoed hydroxychloroquine trials worldwide and influenced WHO and FDA guidance. However, within weeks, scientists raised concerns: Surgisphere's methodology was opaque, the company's data covered hospitals in countries with no reported COVID-19 cases at the time, and the geographic distribution seemed implausible. An investigation showed that Surgisphere could not produce the underlying data for audit, leading Lancet editors to request retraction. The company's founder, Sapan Desai, was found to have engaged in research misconduct. The incident revealed how pressure to produce rapid COVID guidance, combined with inadequate peer review of emergency papers and insufficient data transparency, allowed what appeared to be fraudulent data to influence global health policy. While it turned out hydroxychloroquine was likely ineffective anyway (from later rigorous trials), the mechanism of damage, fraud, was a serious breach of scientific integrity during a pandemic.