RETRACTED ARTICLE: Efficacy of favipiravir in COVID-19 treatment: a multi-center randomized study
Authors: Mohamed Awad Tageldin
Mohamed Elbahnasawy
Shaimaa Soliman
Sherief Abd-Elsalam
Manal H El-Sayed
Fatma F S Ebeid
Mohamed Samir Abd El Ghafar
Rehab Badawi
Hany M Dabbous
Ahmed F Sherief
Journal: Archives of Virology (2021)
Discipline: MICROBIOLOGY
Keywords: antiviral drugs; COVID-19; favipiravir; efficacy; treatment
Affiliations: Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt., Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, El-Giash Street, Tanta, 31527, Egypt. ., Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University Research Institute-Clinical Research Center (MASRI-CRC), Cairo, Egypt., Department of Anesthesia, Surgical Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt., Public Health and Community Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt., Emergency Medicine and Traumatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt., Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, El-Giash Street, Tanta, 31527, Egypt., Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract:  No specific antiviral drugs have been approved for the treatment of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of favipiravir in treatment of COVID-19. This was a multicenter randomized controlled study including 96 patients with COVID- 19 who were randomly assigned into a chloroquine (CQ) group and a favipiravir group. None of the patients in the favipiravir group needed mechanical ventilation (p = 0.129). One patient (2.3%) in the favipiravir group and two patients (4.2%) in the CQ group died (p = 1.00). Favipiravir is a promising drug for COVID-19 that decreases the hospital stay and the need for mechanical ventilation.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04351295. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 Retracted, [24 November 2021] . -------------- The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article. After publication, concerns were raised about the reporting of this clinical trial and the authors were asked to provide their raw data files. The raw data underlying Table 1 were examined. First, the reported baseline variables showed that the distribution of one variable was highly statistically different in the two study groups. Second, two variables showed different rounding to significant figures in the two groups. Third, for two variables, there was a different distribution of the variables when moving through the groups. It is unclear how these variations could occur in a correctly performed trial so that serious doubts must arise on the randomization process and on the data validity. These doubts are reinforced by the equal gender distribution even though gender was not stated to be an inclusion parameter by the authors. The Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the results and conclusions presented. Sherief Abd Elsalam and Shaimaa Soliman disagree with this retraction. Hany M. Dabbous, Manal H. El Sayed, Ahmed F. Sherief, Fatma F. S. Ebeid, Mohamed Samir Abd El Ghafar, Mohamed Elbahnasawy, Rehab Badawi and Mohamed Awad Tageldin have not responded to correspondence from the publisher about this retraction. , 
 Also covered by Retraction Watch: https: retractionwatch.com 2021 11 23 groups-second-paper-on-potential-treatments-for-covid-19-is-retracted ,