2024-12-17 16:38:00
After more than four years of controversy, the founding study, signed in particular by Didier Raoult, on the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 was invalidated, on Tuesday 17 December, by the director of the journal that had published it. Hydroxychloroquine – a derivative of an antimalarial drug – has enjoyed unprecedented notoriety since late February 2020 and fueled lively debates in the wake of its promotion by Didier Raoult, then head of the Institut Hospitalo-University (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, in Marseille, to fight the coronavirus.
At issue: failure to comply with multiple rules, but also problematic manipulation or interpretation of results. “Concerns have been raised” regarding compliance with “publication ethics” from the magazine’s publisher, a “the appropriate conduct of research involving human participants, as well as concerns raised by three authors regarding the methodology and conclusions”Elsevier explained in a long motivational note. The publisher also claims that the study authors did not convincingly argue their defense.
Over the years, Didier Raoult has made public several studies demonstrating, in his opinion, the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, which were subsequently widely criticized for methodological flaws (patient groups that were too small, no control group, etc.) or ethical (non-compliance with standards for human research, etc.).
Withdrawal of article welcomed by scientists
Enthusiasm for hydroxychloroquine took a political turn in the spring of 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Emmanuel Macron had thus described Didier Raoult as “great scientist” in mid-April and felt his dual therapy should be “tested”. The government then returned. Abroad, Donald Trump, then president of the United States, became its apostle in the spring of 2020 and said he had taken preventive time. In Brazil, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has also been an avid promoter.
If Gautret’s study – and other publications by Didier Raoult – had fueled hopes of a cure, other scientists and ethicists immediately singled it out for potential errors, even manipulation, which were subsequently demonstrated by investigations by health authorities and average. Large-scale scientific studies with a solid methodology – the British Recovery, the French Hycovid, or even Solidarity, conducted by the World Health Organization – have subsequently demonstrated the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment or prevention of Covid-19. The use of coronavirus treatment has also been associated with serious adverse effects, particularly cardiovascular.
Didier Raoult, discredited by his colleagues after the crisis, continued to affirm this “thousands of people who could have been treated were not treated” due to hydroxychloroquine choices. He defended the administration of this protocol to Covid-19 patients despite the unfavorable opinions of the health authorities. The Medicines Agency (ANSM) has taken legal action against the Gautret study and other controversial publications by Didier Raoult due to failure to comply with the conditions of human testing. The Marseille prosecutor’s office is investigating suspicions of unauthorized clinical trials.
When questioned by AFP, neither Didier Raoult nor the ANSM reacted at this stage.
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