101 studies flagged as bogus COVID cure pusher sees career unravel
It's a past-due reckoning for French microbiologist Didier Raoult, critics say.
Enlarge / Microbiologist Didier Raoult addresses a press conference on COVID-19 at the IHU medical institute in Marseille on April 20, 2022. (credit: Getty | )
A scientific journal published by Elsevier has reportedly posted a stunning 101 expressions of concern on studies connected to Didier Raoult, a disgraced French microbiologist who gained international prominence amid the pandemic by promoting, with little evidence, that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19—a claim that has now been firmly debunked.
According to Retraction Watch, the journal New Microbes and New Infections posted 101 expressions of concern on Raoult's works recently, including a 2023 study that drew sharp criticism. The study involved giving hydroxychloroquine to tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients after data indicated that it wasn't effective and the French government rescinded permission for its use against COVID-19. An op-ed in the major French newspaper Le Monde described the study as "the largest 'wild' therapeutic trial known to date."
The expressions of concern also come as Raoult saw his tenth study retracted, Retraction Watch noted.