The editor of the journal which published it in March 2020 cites problems related to methodology and “publication ethics”. This study, which intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine against Covid, was widely criticized by the scientific community.
Published on 17/12/2024 13:21
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A big setback for Didier Raoult. After more than four years of controversy, the founding study of the IHU of Marseille on the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19, signed in particular by Professor Didier Raoult, has been officially invalidated, announced Tuesday, December 17 editor of the journal which published it in March 2020. “Concerns have been raised” linked to respect for “publication ethics” from the editor of the magazine, to “the appropriate conduct of research involving human participants, as well as concerns raised by three of the authors regarding the methodology and conclusions”explained Elsevier, the publisher of the scientific journal International journal of antimicrobial agentsin a long note justifying this retraction.
The article, signed by 18 authors, notably Philippe Gautret, then professor at the IHU, and Didier Raoult, intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, combined with an antibiotic (azithromycin) against Covid-19 . If this publication had fueled hopes of a treatment, it was quickly singled out by other scientists and ethics specialists for potential errors, even manipulation, which was subsequently proven by investigations by health authorities and certain media. .
Scientific studies later demonstrated the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine against Covid, the use of which has sometimes been associated with serious adverse effects, particularly cardiovascular ones. Elsevier, which has enlisted the services of a “impartial expert acting as an independent advisor on publishing ethics”set out in detail his in-depth investigation into the article, and his damning conclusions on the non-compliance with the rules as well as the manipulation or interpretation of the results. The publisher also claims that the authors have not argued convincingly in their defense. His official retraction of the study invalidates the results.
The Gautret study was “the cornerstone of a global scandal” and its retraction “constitutes a late but essential recognition of the scientific excesses which have led to the endangerment of patients”, welcomed in a press release the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT), chaired by Professor Mathieu Molimard. The SFPT also called for a broader questioning of the work carried out under the supervision of Professor Didier Raoult, in particular on hydroxychloroquine.
