Coronavirus patients used as test subjects with unauthorized HIV medication: 'YÖK must not remain silent'

It has been reported that a group of academics from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Istanbul Medeniyet University used an antibiotic and an antiviral drug in the treatment of patients without their consent during the coronavirus period and submitted this as an article to a scientific journal; following the publication of the article and subsequent objections from the scientific community, the article was retracted (removed from publication) by the journal. 

According to the report by Sibel Bahçetepe from BirGün; physicians stating that the study had ethical issues noted that the Ministry of Health and YÖK must take urgent action on this matter.

ETHICAL CONCERNS

Prof. Dr. Önder Ergönül, an Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Specialist who is an associate editor at the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Springer-Nature), where the research was published two years ago, stated that the study in question was problematic from a methodological standpoint. Ergönül said, 'The French editor-in-chief stated that the study lacked a control group, was methodologically weak, and that misleading people would cause harm, and therefore reported that the study should be retracted. The matter should also be investigated by YÖK.'

Ergönül summarized the situation as follows:

ANTIVIRAL DRUG USED IN HIV TREATMENT WAS ADMINISTERED

'The article sent to the journal was a study conducted by a group of academics, including Assoc. Prof. Ferhat Arslan and Prof. Haluk Vahaboğlu, who were specialists in the university's infectious diseases department at the time. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they administered an antibiotic not used in coronavirus treatment, a drug called hydroxychloroquine which was later removed from use in Covid treatment, and an antiviral drug used in the treatment of HIV infection to patients. This study was conducted without a control group and was published in the journal after peer review. Prof. Dr. Banu Çakır, an epidemiologist specializing in research methodology from the Hacettepe University Department of Public Health, sent a letter criticizing the method after reading the published study, and the authors responded to this comment in their own way. Like everyone else, I read the final decision after it was published in the journal. The 'retraction' statement in the journal is summarized as follows: 'Concerns regarding the methodology were raised in a letter to the editor, and the authors responded. Upon a more detailed evaluation of the letter and the authors' response, the editor-in-chief no longer has confidence in the accuracy of the results. In particular, although this was a clinical trial, there was a lack of an appropriate control group. Furthermore, informed consent (patient consent) for participation in this study had been waived. However, the editor-in-chief does not consider the waiver appropriate for a study of this nature. Author Ferhat Arslan also agrees with this retraction.'

"YÖK MUST IMMEDIATELY TAKE ACTION..."

Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Specialist Prof. Esin Davutoğlu Şenol also stated that there was a serious methodological error, saying, 'You cannot conduct such a study without obtaining patient consent and without insuring the patient. Perhaps those patients have died; we do not know this. There is a major ethical violation. The retraction of the article has also created an embarrassing situation for Turkey. It is a situation that poses a great danger to patients as well. The Ministry and YÖK must immediately take action, identify the patients, and understand what happened to them.'

"LESSONS MUST BE LEARNED"

The Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (KLİMİK) made the following statement in summary:

'The retraction of a study published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal is a rare but extremely serious situation. The retraction of an article not only imposes serious responsibilities on the authors but also contains important lessons for the entire scientific world. For this reason, the retracted article itself, the criticisms made of the article, the authors' responses to these criticisms, and the editor's final opinion must be read carefully. In order for our country's scientific environment to develop, it is important that scientific article retraction processes are not personalized and that the right lessons are learned from the events experienced.'

News Source: 12punto