Retracted COVID drug study helped fuel Utah controversy
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A flawed study that helped trigger a run on hydroxychloroquine early in the COVID-19 pandemic has been formally retracted by the journal that published it.
Why it matters: Utah lawmakers cited the paper to support a proposed multi-million dollar effort in 2020 to dispense the drug via lucrative, no-bid contracts with vendors tied to the controversial testing program TestUtah.
Driving the news: The International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (IJAA) retracted the paper Tuesday over ethical concerns and problems with the study's methodology, the publication Science reported.
Catch up quick: Utah officials ordered $800,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine in March 2020 as then-President Trump and Fox News personalities promoted the malaria medication as a promising treatment for COVID-19.
- Lawmakers were trying to arrange funding for another $8 million purchase even as medical experts warned that the drug was an unproven remedy.
- Proponents of the plan pointed to the small French study, among a few others, to support their comparison of the drug's effect to the resurrected biblical figure, Lazarus.
The intrigue: An investigation by the Salt Lake Tribune found the push for hydroxychloroquine was orchestrated by a team of politicians and business execs, not health officials or infectious disease experts.
Inside the room: Emails showed tech leaders planned to run TestUtah.com as a symptom-checker and screening tool to identify patients, operate testing centers and give hydroxychloroquine to those who tested positive for Covid-19, all on the state's dime.
- The tech CEO running TestUtah also had financial ties to the pharmacy poised to sell massive amounts of the drug to the state.
The bottom line: The state cancelled its purchases after the FDA warned of heart risks associated with the drug.
- The owner of the pharmacy that planned to sell hydroxychloroquine to the state later pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegally importing the drug. He was sentenced to probation.
- TestUtah went on to secure no-bid contracts in multiple states and ran test centers here for about two years.
Context: Hydroxychloroquine's effectiveness for treating COVID has been disproved — and the IJAA study in France was not the only one to be withdrawn.
- A Lancet study that found the drug caused heart problems was also retracted.
- The IJAA study was immediately criticized for its small sample size, among other issues.
Zoom out: Multiple states tried to stockpile the drug early in the pandemic based on early findings like those published in the IJAA.
- Oklahoma, for example, received a refund for the $2.6 million it spent.