Professor Fournier, who has just succeeded the controversial Didier Raoult at the head of the IHU Méditerranée Infection, announced on Wednesday the suspension of clinical trials in the establishment, after a damning new report and while the justice system is investigating the practices of the institute.
“I have ensured that all ongoing clinical trials relating to research involving the human person [RIPH] be suspended, pending the regularization of the situation,” wrote Pierre-Edouard Fournier in a statement sent to AFP.
A conciliatory tone
Professor Fournier, a specialist in infectious diseases and whose appointment had raised reservations because he himself worked for a long time under the aegis of Professor Raoult, took office in the midst of a media storm around the institute.
In this first official speech, he opted for a conciliatory tone which contrasts with that of his predecessor, ensuring for example that his first meetings with Marseille hospitals (AP-HM) “made it possible to lay the foundations for constructive relations and appeased”.
He also says he is “happy” to meet soon with the Ministers of Health and Research to present to them his “ambitious action plan” which “will implement the recommendations” of the report of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas ) and its counterpart for higher education and research (IGESR) published on Monday.