It was defended by Professor Didier Raoult: the study on the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 officially invalidated

The founding study of the IHU of Marseille on the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19, signed in particular by Professor Didier Raoult, has been officially invalidated, announced on December 17, 2024 the editor of the journal that published it in March 2020.

After more than four years of controversy, the founding study of the IHU of Marseille on the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid, signed in particular by Professor Didier Raoult, has been officially invalidated, announced Tuesday the editor of the journal that published it in March 2020.

“Concerns have been raised”

“Concerns have been raised” related to compliance with “publication ethics” of the journal's publisher, at “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, the publisher of the scientific journal “International journal of antimicrobial agents”, in a long note justifying this retraction.

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The article, signed by 18 authors, including Philippe Gautret, then professor at the IHU, and Didier Raoult, intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, combined with an antibiotic – azithromycin – against Covid-19.

While this publication had fueled hopes of treatment, it had been quickly pinned down by other scientists and ethicists for potential errors, even manipulations, which were subsequently proven by investigations by health authorities and certain media.

“The cornerstone of a global scandal”

Scientific studies have all subsequently demonstrated the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine against Covid, the use of which has sometimes been associated with serious adverse effects, particularly cardiovascular.

Elsevier, which has hired the services of an “impartial expert acting as an independent advisor on publishing ethics”, has set out in detail Tuesday his in-depth investigation of the article, and his damning conclusions on the non-compliance with the rules as well as on the manipulation or interpretation of the results.

The editor also claims that the authors have not argued convincingly in their defense. His official retraction of the study invalidates its results.

The Gautret study was “the cornerstone of a global scandal” and its retraction “constitutes a belated but essential recognition of the scientific deviations that have led to the endangerment of patients”, welcomed in a press release the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT), chaired by Professor Mathieu Molimard.

The SFPT called for a broader questioning of the work carried out under the supervision of Professor Didier Raoult, in particular on hydroxychloroquine