Retraction Note: Safety and efficacy of favipiravir versus hydroxychloroquine in management of COVID-19: A randomised controlled trial (Scientific Reports, (2021), 10.1038/s41598-021-85227-0)

Abstract

Te Editors have retracted this Article. Afer concerns were brought to the Editors’ attention afer publication, the raw data underlying the study were requested. Te authors provided several versions of their dataset. Post-publication peer review confrmed that none of these versions fully recapitulates the results presented in the cohort background comparisons, casting doubt on the reliability of the data. Additional concerns were raised about the randomisation procedure, as the equal distribution of male and female patients is unlikely unless sex is a parameter considered during randomisation. However, based on the clarifcation provided by the authors, sex was not considered during this process. Te Editors therefore no longer have confdence in the results and conclusions presented. Hany M. Dabbous, Manal H. El-Sayed, Gihan El Assal, Hesham Elghazaly, Fatma F. S. Ebeid, Ahmed F. Sherief, Maha Elgaafary, Ehab Fawzy, Sahar M. Hassany, and Ahmed R. Riad disagree with the retraction. Mohamed A. TagelDin did not respond to the correspondence from the Editors about the retraction.