Bik And Raoult Hydroxychloroquine Feud Exposes Tensions - 2021-10-18

Bik And Raoult Hydroxychloroquine Feud Exposes Tensions October 18, 2021, Stephanie M. Lee, BuzzFeed News

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Days after a mysterious new illness was declared a pandemic last March, a prominent scientist in France announced that he had already found a cure.

Based on a small clinical trial, microbiologist Didier Raoult claimed that hydroxychloroquine, a decades-old antimalarial drug, was part of a 100% effective treatment against COVID-19. Then–US president Donald Trump promptly proclaimed that the finding could be "one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."

But the study seemed off to Elisabeth Bik, a scientist turned science detective living in Silicon Valley. Bik has a sharp eye for spotting errors buried in arcane scientific papers, particularly when it comes to duplicated images. And much about Raoult's paper looked fishy, as she later noted on her blog. Unfavorable data was left out, and the trial's timeline was mathematically impossible. "Something does not seem quite right," she wrote.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = Stephanie M. | last = Lee | title = Bik And Raoult Hydroxychloroquine Feud Exposes Tensions | url = https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/elisabeth-bik-didier-raoult-hydroxychloroquine-study | work = BuzzFeed News | date = October 18, 2021 | accessdate = October 18, 2021 }}