To say HCQ proved a complete bust is a complete untruth.
Most of the studies that did not show any effects were in cases where proponents of HCQ had already stated it was no longer effective.
As as scientist yourself I would think you have the intellectual honesty to admit that at best you can say results are inconclusive and most objective scientists state there is a need for further study ( I point you to an article in Nature Magazine on July 8 co-authored by Dr. Erwei Sun, Dr. Yufing Shi, Dr. Ernesto Carofoli, Dr Gerry Melino, Arnold Rabson, Patrizia Agostonis, Ying Wang, Xing Li)