A tale of two drugs...— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) June 29, 2020
Remdesivir & HCQ both show promise for COVID-19
HCQ is discredited w/ fraudulent data, FDA warnings & overdoses
Remdesivir is praised w/ tightly guarded data by the NIH and a task force of Gilead investors/employees
HCQ: Under $10
Remdesivir: Over $3000
WHO reverses course on hydroxychloroquine amid data scandal that led to Lancet paper. @zev_dr was correct to call it Fake News. Now @US_FDA needs to expand Emergency Authorization for outpatient use as Yale paper shows:https://t.co/PdwLcLUQpn— RoboCop (@jerry25a) June 3, 2020
Bloomberg
written by Helene Fouquet and Robert Langreth
Friday June 5, 2020
The founder of Surgisphere Corp., a data analytics firm based outside Chicago, quoted Sun Tzu’s Art of War in remarks to Utah’s Western Governors University.
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized,” Sapan Desai told fellow graduates in 2012. Desai, who obtained an MBA and also holds a medical degree and a Ph.D., sought to apply the Chinese strategist’s advice to his own career.
Now the 41-year-old surgeon and entrepreneur is at the center of a controversy with global health implications. On Thursday, doubts about data from Surgisphere prompted the retraction of two scientific articles, including an influential study in The Lancet that had shown antimalarial drugs promoted by President Donald Trump could be harmful in the treatment of Covid-19.
The World Health Organization had suspended clinical trial programs using hydroxychloroquine following the initial report, as did the U.K. and France. The Lancet’s peer-reviewed study, published on May 22, claimed to have analyzed Surgisphere data collected from almost 96,000 Covid-19 patients across the globe.
The Letter
But in the days after publication, concerns over the underlying data bubbled up. Questions arose over how Surgisphere, a little-known company that claims to have 11 employees, could have reached agreements on sharing sensitive patient information with some 1,200 hospitals around the world, much less received and processed the data so quickly.
Last week, more than 200 scientists signed a letter to The Lancet asking for greater transparency regarding the hospitals where patients’ medical records came from and the method of analysis, citing a list of inconsistencies and anomalies in the paper.
Late Thursday, co-authors Mandeep Mehra, Frank Ruschitzka, and Amit Patel requested the paper be retracted after Surgisphere declined to submit its full dataset and other information to independent peer reviewers because of client and confidentiality agreements.
“Based on this development, we can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources,” the authors said.
Rush for Data
In a statement, The Lancet said many outstanding questions surround the company and the data used in the study. “Institutional reviews of Surgisphere’s research collaborations are urgently needed,” it said.
Shortly after, the New England Journal of Medicine retracted a separate study that relied on the company’s data.
The scrutiny has placed Surgisphere and Desai, who was listed as a co-author on both of the articles, under a microscope, and also raised questions about research standards during the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is an almighty rush to understand this new disease -- everybody is trying to get data quickly,” said Nicholas Day, a professor of tropical medicine at the University of Oxford’s branch in Bangkok. “All the journals are desperate to publish because there is a thirst to know about this disease. Therefore mistakes are made, stuff is rushed through.”
Desai and Surgisphere declined to comment on the retractions through a public relations firm.
Machine Learning
In emailed remarks before the articles were retracted, however, Desai defended his 12-year-old company, which consolidates medical records from around the world. He told Bloomberg the firm relied on artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate its processes, “which is the only way a task like this is even possible.”
“It is important to understand the nature of this database,” he added. “We are not responsible for the source data, thus the labor intensive task required for exporting the data from an EHR (electronic health record), converting it into the format required by our data dictionary, and fully de-identifying the data is done by the healthcare partner. Surgisphere does not reconcile languages or coding systems.”
No artificial intelligence or machine learning experts were listed as authors of the now-retracted Lancet paper. The article also indicated that of the four authors named on the study, Desai was the person who acquired and analyzed the data.
Headquartered in a residential house overlooking a small lake in an upscale area west of Chicago, Surgisphere has two branches that it says collect data and run machine learning software: QuartzClinical and Surgical Outcomes Collaborative.
Desai held positions in at least four medical centers following his Duke University surgery residency, according to his LinkedIn profile, and left his most recent position as a doctor at Northwest Community Hospital in Illinois in February.
Documents obtained by Bloomberg and filed by Desai in Illinois show him to be the sole owner of Surgisphere as of February. He didn’t respond to a query as to whether the company has a board or a scientific committee.
On Thursday, three employees were registered on LinkedIn as actively working at Surgisphere: a sales manager, a franchise representative and Desai himself. By Friday, following the retractions, only Desai remained.
A Sofia, Bulgaria-based computer scientist named Ivo Gelov, who told Bloomberg he had done part-time freelance programming for Surgisphere two years ago, said he had “no clue about their access to medical data.”
Data Questions
Scientists have highlighted potential inconsistencies in the data used in The Lancet study, from an unrealistically high number of electronic patient records in Africa to the doubtful origin of European figures given the continent’s strict rules around health privacy. Moreover, the dataset had more patients than would appear likely given the dates and progress of the virus, especially in the U.K. The Lancet last week published a brief correction of data from Australia.
Desai said the official figures “could have been under-reported early on during the pandemic, thus leading to the appearance that we are over-reporting numbers when in actuality we are capturing the true total number of Covid-19 infections at the hospital level, which is the true source for this data.”
Still, the Surgisphere studies were highly unusual in that they claimed to quickly assemble data from hundreds of anonymous hospitals, using numerous electronic medical records systems, under different privacy laws across many countries on multiple continents. And even more strangely, for studies that claimed a massive feat of data integration in record-setting time, they had no biostatisticians listed as authors that might have helped pull all this data together.
Health Records
More typically, when medical scientists do such studies they rely on clearly named and reputable government databases in one country or state that researchers are able to access.
Surgisphere said its information comes from “a registry, with data obtained from electronic health records” of a “very specific group of hospitalized patients with Covid-19.” The company “directly integrates with the EHRs of our hospital customers,” and “has permission to include these hospitals’ EHR data in its query-able registry/database of real-world, real-time patient encounters.”
Surgisphere didn’t provide the names of companies or institutions from which it obtained the data.
The retracted study published May 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine claimed to have records of 107 patients from five hospitals in France, including ethnic information such as skin color. However, it’s unlawful to collect such data in France. What’s more, the transmission or sale of hospital data and patient records are strictly limited, and often require approval by the CNIL privacy watchdog. The CNIL told Bloomberg it had not received requests from Surgisphere. The French health ministry didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.
Scotland’s NHS
Surgisphere says on its website that it’s worked with Scotland’s National Health Service to find data-driven solutions to high rates of post-surgical complications and infections. No such relationship exists, the health agency said. “At no point have Surgisphere had any access to NHS Scotland data,” it said in an email.
As for Desai, in his remarks to Western Governors University, he paraphrased Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, on the importance of perseverance: “It is the challenges that teach us to never, never, never give in, to keep pressing forward no matter how hard it gets.”
I took this screenshot from Elsevier.com and added for your information.
๐ Dr. Didier Raoult and many other doctors were calling them out. He is the number one infectious disease expert worldwide and the Left who has been reporting lies are calling him a quack doctor. ๐About the paper published in The Lancet: data coming from five different continents cannot be so homogeneous. There is either data manipulation (not mentionned in Material and Methodes), or incorporation of faked data. pic.twitter.com/Oda45XA9B5— Didier Raoult (@raoult_didier) May 26, 2020
Open-letter to Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, signed by british medical research stars. Among them, Sir Nicholas White (h-index 179).https://t.co/yhF2lyWFHL pic.twitter.com/hIyDXXOSZj— Didier Raoult (@raoult_didier) May 29, 2020
I've been following Raoult too. He's brilliant. The Lancet & Richard Horton decimated him w/their fraudulent HCQ study which was retracted. The MSM never reported the retraction as such sheeple are saying HCQ kills.Gilead is trying to destroy @raoult_didier too am truly disgusted— Suzanne Biallot-Siebert (@SuzeSieb) July 24, 2020
THREAD: A couple days ago, the WHO stopped #hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID, citing data that it is not effective. The last time the WHO halted its HCQ trials (May 25), it was prompted by extensive data from a mysterious healthcare analytics firm: SURGISPHERE.— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
On its website, Surgisphere touted relationships with hundreds of research facilities like University of Minnesota, Stanford, University of Utah & Glasgow, who have all denied such relationships. (This week the Surgisphere website disappeared.)— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
Surisphere’s patient data, on which the WHO based its decision, supposedly included the largest health systems on Earth - a big project indeed. But as @JamesTodaroMD noted last month, Surgisphere's LinkedIn page showed just five employees. Today, that number is one. pic.twitter.com/3sJcg33pU7— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
Of the #Surgisphere employees we know about: - A CEO who is involved in four medical malpractice lawsuits - A science editor who appears to be a science FICTION author - A public relations executive who appears to be an adult model— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
After the scandal came to light, thanks to researchers like @JamesTodaroMD, the firm seems to have ceased operations. But The Lancet had already published a study based on Surgisphere's data, which reported that #hydroxychloroquine corresponded to a higher death rate.— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
The Lancet Study been retracted, but not before headlines like this. Will we ever get to the bottom of this? pic.twitter.com/HThDgnRYg0— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
From @MelissaLDavey at the Guardian: pic.twitter.com/uSd0qdtDOA— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 20, 2020
So, that was the last time WHO halted its investigation into HCQ - based on fraudulent data. This time, it was based on a study that used unsafe HCQ dose levels. What's going on?https://t.co/ZhrTmPqOQz— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 25, 2020
Self explanatory pic.twitter.com/HBGWRq40ip— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) June 14, 2020
Lancet publishes a follow-up comment on hydroxychloroquine & its RETRACTED study. I'll summarize their message: "We published a totally fraudulent study to support our hypothesis that HCQ is dangerous because we couldn't find real data to support this."https://t.co/ckw5DBlFK3— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) July 13, 2020
If you are wondering who is funding The Lancet with paid advertising, the answer is hiding in plain sight... Wherever there is an anti-HCQ article, Gilead is sure to be nearby. pic.twitter.com/zXJeENjXWs— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) July 14, 2020
Today, three of the authors have retracted "Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis" Read the Retraction notice and statement from The Lancet https://t.co/pPNCJ3nO8n pic.twitter.com/pB0FBj6EXr— The Lancet (@TheLancet) June 4, 2020
— Cyber Sciences (@Cyber_Sciences) June 4, 2020
Science should never mix with politics— Kuvera Sikakane๐ (@KuveraSiK) June 4, 2020
“They were unable to complete an independent audit of the data underpinning their analysis.” Why was it published without such an audit? cc @YosefRapaport @StephenLevin33— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) June 4, 2020
You have lost all credibility. The Lancet is turning into political propaganda. The research you published a few weeks ago was heavily flawed, an utter embarrassment. Thought you were legit. Science + Politics = Propaganda— Ben Golan (@elapoides) June 4, 2020
Willful Fraud... Someone needs to be prosecuted for this ๐คฌ๐คฌ pic.twitter.com/TN5zw2PeFm— Indy Jones (@indy_jones3) June 4, 2020
The people who have died, or will die, because of the idiotic and craven over-reaction of certain health authorities to this fraudulent report, likely consider the situation more that "an embarrassment or inconvenience".— Mark F. McCarty (@markfmccarty) June 4, 2020
UPDATE 7/28/20 at 9:51am: Added info below.Shame on you . my hope is that lawsuits pour in from around the world to you, the WHO, and the authors . people surely died without access to this drug, a direct result of this hit piece— Nick the PhD pilot (@brains4use) June 4, 2020
Our video was taken down by Facebook & YouTube last night.— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) July 28, 2020
Surprise surprise.
You know what YouTube video is still up from 2 months ago though?
The video with Surgisphere founder Sapan Desai on the results of the fake Lancet study that the WHO mistakenly endorsed immediately. https://t.co/TcA1en4X8o
BREAKING: @Twitter & @jack have suspended @DonaldJTrumpJr for posting a viral video of medical doctors talking about Hydroxychloroquine.— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 28, 2020
Big Tech is the biggest threat to free expression in America today & they're continuing to engage in open election interference - full stop. pic.twitter.com/7dJbauq43O
It can be found on @bitchute ๐ผ Doctors Address COVID-19 Misinformation with SCOTUS Press Conference https://t.co/LaMFAtNj3l— FiebiePup⏳๐ฟ๐ฆ (@fiebiePup) July 28, 2020
James, I suggest tweeting this CDC image on "Who can take hydroxychloroquine." It should go viral: pic.twitter.com/y7lGuKKEmy— Elizabeth Woodworth (@Abettervision) July 28, 2020
UPDATE 7/28/20 at 10:39am: Added info below.Sign the Whitehouse petition to make HCQ available OTC: https://t.co/ceJ469ffWI— Ed Wells (@wellsong) July 28, 2020
For chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, when used at normal malaria treatment doses (and duration), prior 2017 WHO publications report that there has never been a case of cardiac arrhythmia reported. Data to date on QT prolongation: https://t.co/PstZC7UjeO— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) July 28, 2020
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