Lucie de Perthuis 18:52 pm, 03 June 2023

The National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) announced this Saturday that it was preparing to take legal action against Didier Raoult. The former director of the IHU of Marseille is accused of having conducted a study on the treatment of Covid-19, without benefiting from the approval of the competent authorities.

Didier Raoult again in the sights of the authorities. The Marseille microbiologist, former director of the IHU-Méditerranée is accused of having conducted, last April, a study on the treatment of Covid-19, described as "the largest known wild therapeutic test" by several doctors in a forum published in the columns of Le Monde. The National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) will therefore seize the justice about this study, according to information from the Parisian, that Europe 1 is able to confirm.

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The experiment led by Didier Raoult had already been pinned last Wednesday by the Minister of Health, François Braun. "I deplore this new unacceptable episode in this case which, for me, is akin to provocation. We will have to take all necessary measures towards all the signatories of this article," he told the Senate.

An unreviewed study

These therapeutic trials involved more than 30,000 patients with Covid-19 who were subjected to various treatments. Including the "Raoult protocol" combining hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. However, this study is defined as "pre-print", in other words not peer-reviewed. And this is precisely where the problem arises. Because according to the ANSM, it should have benefited from a favorable opinion of a committee for the protection of persons as well as an authorization from the ANSM itself to be implemented.

In the face of criticism, the authors of this study finally removed it from the platform on which it had been published. And on Twitter, Didier Raoult defended himself, saying that the patients treated in this way did not act as "guinea pigs" but were on the contrary "lucky". "The truth is circulating and will circulate, count on me!" concluded the 71-year-old professor who will however face justice again for his methods criticized by part of the scientific community.

We are the good guys!
All the authors (including me) of the preprint which is so scary by showing that we could treat, decided, in solidarity with Professor Lagier threatened by the management, to withdraw the preprint so as not to suggest a betrayal on his part and to...

— Didier Raoult (@raoult_didier) June 2, 2023