Published on
Updated
Reading 2 mins.
In a column published in the newspaper Le Monde, fifteen learned societies consider that Professor Didier Raoult conducted the largest “wild” therapeutic trial known to date during the Covid-19 epidemic. They denounce the lack of reaction from the administrative authorities and ask them to put in place measures “given the gravity of the situation”.
We are in the spring of 2020, in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic. At the Mediterranean Infection University Hospital Institute (IHU) in Marseille, Professor Didier Raoult assures us that hydroxychloroquine can treat Covid-19. He routinely prescribes this drug to more than 20,000 patients with Covid-19. Systematic prescriptions which have been continued for more than a year when this treatment has never shown its effectiveness in treating Covid-19. In a forum, doctors denounce the many shortcomings of Professor Raoult.
A therapeutic trial that did not respect any rules
In a column published in The world, scientists criticize the practices of certain biologists and clinicians at the Mediterranean Infection University Hospital Institute (IHU) during the health crisis. They recall that a certain number of elementary rules have been “largely violated”. “The systematic prescription to patients with Covid-19, whatever their age and symptoms, of drugs as varied as hydroxychloroquine, zinc, ivermectin or azithromycin, on preprinted prescriptions, has first carried out without solid pharmacological bases, and in the absence of any evidence of efficacy”, they point out. They also reveal that this trial was conducted without the informed consent of the participants, without obtaining the authorizations normally issued by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSES) and without taking into account the benefit-risk balance of the treatments before to validate their indication.
Worse still, these systematic prescriptions lasted more than a year in the absence of marketing authorization (AMM) and of an ethical and legal framework. The signatories of the forum insist that the administration of this treatment was based solely on patient monitoring and repeated PCR tests. This trial collected data from more than 30,000 patients, “thus probably constituting the largest ‘wild’ therapeutic trial known to date”worry the scientists who signed the forum.
The tribune also denounces the media coverage “in a favorable light” And “without critical hindsight” practices of Professor Raoult. We all remember President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise visit to Didier Raoult on April 9, 2020 and the infectious disease specialist’s numerous speeches in the media during this same period. Which would have had the effect ofcontribute to fueling the distrust of some of our fellow citizens towards science, clinical research, health authorities and experts in general”.
The competent institutions must take their responsibilities
The learned societies at the origin of this forum are asking several institutions (High Authority for Health, National Consultative Ethics Committee, National Council of the Order of Physicians, etc.) to react “by adopting positions and measures appropriate to the faults committed”. They fear that the absence of reaction from the public authorities on this affair will harm French medical research on the national and international level.
“A forum of fools” according to Professor Raoult
Invited to react on this forum to our colleagues from franceinfo, Professor Raoult described it as “tribune of fools” and ensures that his protocol works. He also says he is ready to welcome the health authorities so that they “come to investigate hydroxychloroquine”.
Professor Raoult no longer directs the IHU. Professor Pierre-Edouard Fournier succeeded him and put an end to the prescriptions of hydroxychloroquine as soon as he arrived.