Four years after its publication, the “International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents” invalidates Didier Raoult’s study on hydroxychloroquine

The publication of this study raised high hopes at the time, as the Covid-19 pandemic and all the uncertainties that accompanied it spread across the world. Widely criticized since then, the journal “International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents”, which published the controversial study on hydroxychloroquine, has just retracted.

The invalidation of the study on hydroxychloroquine puts an end to more than four years of scientific controversy. In 2019, the whole world entered a troubled period: that of the Covid-19 pandemic, which paralyzed entire countries and imposed confinement on many citizens. However, on March 20, 2020, three days after the start of the first confinement in France, Didier Raoult, then head of the Marseille University Hospital Institute, published with 17 of his colleagues, work indicating that hydroxychloroquine, substance derived from a drug against malaria, is effective against Covid-19, in combination with an antibiotic.

His work immediately raises a lot of hope, creating excitement around this molecule, including internationally. Excitement wrongly relayed by personalities like Donald Trump in the United States or Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Very quickly, a lot of criticism was raised, with many scientists pointing out methodological errors, particularly in the choice of patients, or the absence of a control group, as well as ethical problems of non-compliance with the rules of research. Finally, after the implementation of more rigorous studies, the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 was finally demonstrated. Worse, it even appears that undesirable effects could have put certain patients at risk.

We therefore understand why a good number of scientists regret that the journal which published the article is only now retracting, especially since the methodological criticisms are old, and have since been largely confirmed by investigations by the health authorities. In October 2024, Didier Raoult, although retired, was symbolically banned from practicing by the medical order for having promoted an insufficiently proven treatment.

The French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics therefore effectively welcomed, Tuesday, December 17, the recognition “tardive” more “essential” of a scientific drift. “This study was the cornerstone of a global scandalwrite these doctors, the promotion of its results has led to the abusive prescription of hydroxychloroquine to millions of patients, and to unnecessary risk-taking”.