Academic Editor: Federico Ronco
We explored the degree to which political bias in medicine and study authors
could explain the stark variation in Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)/Chloroquine (CQ)
study favorability in the US compared to the rest of the world.
COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 preprint and published papers between January 1, 2020-July
26, 2020 with Hydroxychloroquine and/or Chloroquine; 267 met study criteria, 68
from the US. A control subset was selected. HCQ/CQ study result favorability
(favorable, unfavorable, or neutral) was noted. First and last main authors of
each US study were entered into FollowTheMoney.org Website, extracting
any history of political party donation. Of all US studies (68 total), 39/68
(57.4%) were unfavorable, with only 7/68 (10.3%) of US studies yielding
favorable results-compared to 199 non-US studies, 66/199 (33.2%) unfavorable,
69/199 (34.7%) favorable, and 64/199 (32.2%) neutral. Studies with at least one
US main author were 20.4% (SE 0.053, P