>>Both of the retracted COVID-19 papers, one in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and the other in The Lancet, were based on what appeared to be a huge database of patient records compiled from hospitals worldwide by Surgisphere, a small company operated by vascular surgeon [Sapan Desai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapan_Desai), who was a co-author on each article. The 22 May 2020 Lancet paper ostensibly showed that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug promoted by former President Donald Trump and others, could harm rather than help COVID-19 patients. Its publication led to a temporary halt in a major clinical trial and inflamed an already-divisive debate over the drug, which has proved to be useless against COVID-19. The 1 May NEJM article corroborated other evidence that people already taking certain blood pressure medicines did not face a greater risk of death if they developed COVID-19. The following link provides a graph showing the impact of these 2 retracted studies on the holy drug Hydroxychlorquine. [Monitoring drug use during the COVID-19 epidemic](https://www.aifa.gov.it/monitoraggio-uso-farmaci-durante-epidemia-covid-19) >>Notice the articles were published in May, HCQ purchases proceeded to fall off the face of the Earth.