a dozen learned societies accuse Didier Raoult of having conducted a “giant wild clinical trial” with hydroxychloroquine

They denounce a “giant wild clinical trial”. In a forthcoming op-ed, a ten medical companies criticize the treatment with hydroxychloroquine received by several thousand patients from the Marseille University Hospital Institute (IHU) under the aegis of Professor Didier Raoult, as reported The Sunday newspaper of May 28. This drug, ineffective against Covid-19 or even dangerous according to certain studies, should not have been administered en masse by the IHU, believe these companies.

In the facts, 30,423 Covid-19 positive people took hydroxychloroquine as part of this trial between March 2, 2020 and December 31, 2021, as revealed by a study prepublished on April 3 by Professor Raoult and his team. “This publication is the straw that broke the camel’s back”told the JDD Professor Robert Molimard, from the Bordeaux University Hospital, “namely, it appears to be the largest wild-card clinical trial ever conducted, with no significant response from authorities.”

Since Didier Raoult is no longer at the head of the IHU, his successor, Professor Pierre-Edouard Fournier, has put an end to the prescriptions of hydroxychloroquine. The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) had also took legal action and initiated administrative proceedings in April 2022 for other breaches, this time concerning clinical trials on tuberculosis after an inspection carried out within the IHU and the AP-HM, when Didier Raoult was in charge .