Sixteen learned medical societies questioned the authorities this Sunday on a lack of sanctions in the face of the “largest known ‘wild’ therapeutic trial”, denouncing the study by Didier Raoult, former boss of the Marseille IHU, on the ‘hydroxychloroquine. In a column published on the website of the Worldthese companies involved in research blame teams from the Institut hospitalier universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection “the systematic prescription, to patients with Covid-19 (…) of drugs as varied as hydroxychloroquine, zinc, l ivermectin or azithromycin (…) without solid pharmacological bases, and in the absence of any proof of efficacy”.
More serious, according to them, these prescriptions were continued “for more than a year after the formal demonstration of their ineffectiveness”. The authorities must take “measures adapted to the faults committed”, in the name of “patient safety” and “the credibility of French medical research”, they conclude. Professor Didier Raoult, who had acquired media fame by holding now discredited positions on Covid-19, in particular the supposed effectiveness of treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, published a “pre-print” in March, that is to say a version not reviewed by peers, of his study on more than 30,000 Covid patients.
Already a damning report
In April, the Medicines Agency (ANSM) estimated that the use of hydroxychloroquine “exposes patients to potential adverse effects which can be serious”. The Marseille public prosecutor’s office had opened a judicial investigation in July 2022, after a scathing report from the ANSM, for “forgery in writing”, “use of forgery in writing” and “interventional research involving a human person not justified by his taking into usual charge. At this stage, there has been no indictment, the prosecution said at the end of May.
After a damning inspection report (Igas / IGESR) on the medical, scientific and managerial excesses of the IHU under the leadership of Didier Raoult, the government also announced on September 5 to take legal action. On this aspect, the Marseille prosecutor’s office is still in the analysis phase, he said. Questioned on Sunday during the Grand Jury RTL/LCI/Le Figarothe Minister of Health, François Braun, recalled that his ministry and that of Education and Research had seized the prosecutor on the mode of operation of the IHU of Marseille.
Didier Raoult retired
“The investigation is ongoing, I will say no more,” he said. Asked whether the investigation also covered the new “wild” clinical trial, he replied: “of course”. Retired since the summer of 2021 from his post as a university professor-hospital practitioner, Didier Raoult was replaced at the end of August at the head of the IHU Méditerranée by Pierre-Edouard Fournier. Professor Didier Raoult, who comes to the IHU “from time to time”, is now professor emeritus and supervises two theses that began before his departure, according to a spokesperson for the institution.
Within the IHU, all clinical trials involving humans have been suspended since the arrival of Professor Fournier. The institute said it was waiting for a return from the ANSM on this subject. On the ANSM side, “the next step is the follow-up, and potentially the lifting of the injunctions made to the IHU, as on clinical trials. The IHU must demonstrate that they have met expectations, ”said a spokesperson for the drug agency, without a time horizon.