A risky treatment
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But in addition to this unconventional scientific process, the report is based on the promotion of this controversial treatment against Covid-19. A drug that has been shown to be responsible for serious side effects, such as heart rhythm abnormalities, blood and lymphatic disorders, kidney damage, and liver disorders and failure. The World Health Organization (WHO), the first, had quickly warned any patient using hydroxychloroquine. And for good reason, this treatment normally administered to people with an autoimmune disease, does not reduce mortality or the need for artificial ventilation according to the results of 30 trials carried out by the WHO on more than 10,000 patients contracting Covid-19.
The IHU, ashamed of its past?
Despite its ineffective and harmful use for people with the virus, hydroxychloroquine treatment has not failed to be relayed by certain political leaders, and above all, to be systematically administered by the IHU to thousands of patients. And this, despite the refusal of the drug manufacturer to support this misuse and the disagreement of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines.
The ASNM had also taken legal action in November 2023 following the publication of a study co-signed by the microbiologist, who had not, at the time, obtained the mandatory authorizations. Among other things, as L’Express reported, the former director of the IHU and his team are suspected of having conducted “wild” studies during the Covid-19 epidemic.
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But in recent months, the trend has been reversing: the IHU has been taking increasing action against its former director. Last February, the institution removed nearly 200 videos featuring Didier Raoult from its official YouTube channel. Among the long list: “Coronavirus: endgame”, a video published on February 25, 2020, announcing to the whole world the supposed effectiveness of the hydroxychloroquine-based treatment. Will this umpteenth controversy definitively signal the “endgame” of this controversial treatment?
