The study doesn’t exist. It’s a claimed observation by Chinese scientists that 80 patients with lupus in Wuhan were observed not to contract #COVID19. They mention it in the introduction to this study, but have not published. 1/ medrxiv.org/content/10.110… 
Of course, this is a pitifully small number, and lupus patients, being immunosuppressed, tend to be the sort of patients who would be most rigorous about social distancing and protecting themselves. So what this observation, even if accurate, means is highly debatable. 2/
In any event, that appears to be the origin of the interest in hydroxychloroquine, an unconfirmed anecdotal observation in Wuhan during the early days of the outbreak in January. 3/
Based on that, the Chinese registered several clinical trials of HCQ, but so far only two have been even prepublished, one negative and one positive. The positive one has so many problems, though, that it is uninformative. 4/ respectfulinsolence.com/2020/04/01/fda…
That’s it. That’s all the evidence for hydroxychloroquine against #COVID19 that exists: a few dubious testimonials of “miracle cures,” anecdotes, two awful French studies, a negative randomized trial, and a highly flawed positive randomized trial. 5/
Despite how truly weak the evidence for hydroxychloroquine is, somehow it’s become, in essence, standard of care for #COVID19. This is utter madness! These drugs are not harmless, and if millions start taking them, thousands will be harmed for no proven benefit. 6/
I also fear that we’ll never know for sure if hydroxychloroquine is effective against #COVID19. The irresponsible hype by @realDonaldTrump, @DrOz, @RudyGiuliani, @FoxNews, etc. guarantees that no one’s going to want to consent to possibly being randomized to the placebo group. 7/
Worst, @US_FDA’s emergency use authorization basically gives the message to patients and doctors that these drugs are effective. So why would any patient sign up for a trial where he might get the placebo? 8/8 respectfulinsolence.com/2020/04/01/fda…
