The early reports regarding HCQ isn't really well-documented, or those who have received the said treatment are very few for it to be considered on a large scale. Upon further research, testing and monitoring of the said drug on COVID-19 patients, there are those that actually survived, although there are
many who experienced side-effects that are then jotted down for republishing purposes. By then, people are just desperate for a
cure since vaccines are still a year away, then came the hype re: HCQ by few doctors who claimed its miracles. I might have been swooned by the hype few months back (sometime in March) as well since it's been a while since I encountered the name hydroxychloroquine and just knew that it was an effective anti-malarial agent with dizziness and loss of appetite as its
initial side-effects, and thought that it could work potentially as an inhibitor to SARS-CoV-2 once the drug binds to the ACE2 receptors of our cells--which, to its own merit, actually work. I never knew that it has side-effects more haunting than what it was originally advertised for, hence why I hated Trump and myself for claiming it to be the temporary savior while we find a vaccine.
While later studies show that HCQ + azithromycin combo might be deadly on immunocompromised patients, I don't think that it was intentionally done such that it serves as a subtle way of culling the population further. Things like this often happen in the medical world, and that's why confirmatory analysis paired with different independent researches much produce the same results or the study isn't going to be as solid as people think it actually is.
So what will Trump going to do with his 29 million HCQ tablets that he ordered from India? lol
It can be repurposed to treat malaria cases, or can be sold cheap to countries where malarial outbreak still happens so as to recoup some of the money invested on such a stupid move.
This retraction is a massive news, obviously there is a political and business agenda behind this one. There has been no reliable data for HCQ to cure corona virus yet we already seen the demand for it like what the hell?
And Lancet as world's credible medical journal is going to be in a deep freak after this, they might face a sanction for this, and the authors for the HCQ findings will surely be arrested for unethical data gathering.
There are reports from big names although they cannot provide the actual numbers and the hospitals which actually used the treatment successfully. HCQ is effective on other things, but not really COVID-19, which I think is a placebo since most of those patients are already receiving other treatments for
pneumonia, which is the virus' deadliest complication on its latter stages.
Also, the Lancet has been in controversies big and small before, so I don't think they don't know how to handle the backlash if there ever is one.