a founding study defended by Didier Raoult on the use of hydroxychloroquine invalidated

After more than four years of controversy, the founding study, notably signed by Didier Raoult, on the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 was invalidated, Tuesday, December 17, by the editor of the journal which published it. had published. Hydroxychloroquine – a derivative of an antimalarial drug – has enjoyed unprecedented notoriety since the end of February 2020 and has 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.

The infectious disease specialist – retired from the IHU since the summer of 2021 and recently banned from practicing medicine – has never stopped asserting that hydroxychloroquine, combined with an antibiotic, azithromycin, was effective against infection. One of the founding studies of this theory, signed by eighteen authors, including Philippe Gautret, then professor at the IHU, and Didier Raoult, was published in March 2020 in the scientific journal International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. Elsevier, the journal’s publisher, announced Tuesday the retraction of this article after an in-depth investigation, with the support of a “impartial expert acting as an independent advisor on publishing ethics”.

At issue: non-compliance with multiple rules, but also the manipulation or problematic interpretation of results. “Concerns have been raised” regarding respect for “publication ethics” from the publisher of the journal, 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 in a long justification note. The publisher also claims that the study’s authors did not convincingly argue their defense.

Over the years, Didier Raoult has made public several studies showing, according to him, the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, which were subsequently widely criticized for methodological flaws (too small groups of patients, no control group, etc.) or ethical (non-compliance with the rules for research on the person, etc.).

Retraction of article welcomed by scientists

The excitement over hydroxychloroquine took a political turn in spring 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Emmanuel Macron had thus described Didier Raoult as “great scientist” in mid-April and judged that his dual therapy should be “tested”. The government then came back. Abroad, Donald Trump, then President of the United States, became its apostle in the spring of 2020 and claimed to have taken some preventative time. In Brazil, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was also a fierce promoter.

If the Gautret study – and other publications by Didier Raoult – had fueled hopes for 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 media. Large-scale scientific studies with solid methodology – the British Recovery, the French Hycovid, or even Solidarity, carried out by the World Health Organization – later demonstrated the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for treating or preventing Covid-19. The use of coronavirus treatment has also been associated with serious adverse effects, particularly cardiovascular ones.

Didier Raoult, discredited by his peers since the crisis, has continued to assert that “thousands of people who could have been treated were not treated” due to the choices on hydroxychloroquine. He defended the administration of this protocol to Covid-19 patients despite unfavorable opinions from health authorities. The Medicines Agency (ANSM) has taken legal action over the Gautret study and other contentious publications by Didier Raoult in the face of non-compliance with the conditions of human experimentation. The Marseille prosecutor’s office is investigating suspicions of unauthorized clinical trials.

Long-awaited, the retraction of the Gautret study was welcomed by several scientists. This study was “the cornerstone of a global scandal”and its retraction “constitutes a recognition, belated but essential, of the scientific excesses which have led to the endangerment of patients”thus welcomed the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT), chaired by Fr.^r Mathieu Molimard. The article “methodologically poor and doubtful” East “finally retracted”commented on X the researcher Lonni Besançon, another figure in this fight.

Asked by AFP, neither Didier Raoult nor the ANSM had reacted at this stage.