Hydroxychloroquine as coronavirus ‘cure’: did France’s Emmanuel Macron fall for the hype?

The French president spent three hours meeting with Didier Raoult, the researcher who believes the anti-malaria drug can help beat the virus

But medical experts say that there isn’t enough clinical evidence to conclude that the medicine works and is safe for Covid-19 patients

Reading Time:5 minutes

French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:37pm, 10 Apr 2020Updated: 1:10am, 11 Apr 2020

A 65-year-old malaria drug that has not been proven to work against the new coronavirus but was touted by Donald Trump appears to have captured the imagination of another president.

France’s Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly flew to Marseille on Thursday and spent more than three hours meeting with Didier Raoult, the researcher whose work has propelled a medicine called hydroxychloroquine from fringe to famous in just three weeks. Raoult’s unconventional studies won over US President Trump, who suggested he’d be willing to take the medicine himself.

Doctors say the hype has got ahead of the science, though many have tried hydroxychloroquine on patients because they do not have anything better. Based on little more than a small but encouraging study, the US has stockpiled 29 million doses. India temporarily banned its export.

Patients in Nigeria poisoned themselves with it. And others still, who need it for chronic illnesses, are now finding it’s in short supply.

“The message that President Macron is sending is one of support, which is detrimental to the scientific community,” Christine Rouzioux, a virologist at Necker Hospital in Paris and a researcher at Paris Descartes University, said on BFM TV. “Professor Raoult certainly has an interesting personality, but one does not heal with personality.”

Raoult has become a folk hero to some in France – especially the former Yellow Vest movement that disrupted the country for much of last year – for his willingness to bend the rules, shun Parisian politics and blame the pharmaceutical industry for the state of research.

Hydroxychloroquine as coronavirus ‘cure’: did France’s Emmanuel Macron fall for the hype?

The French president spent three hours meeting with Didier Raoult, the researcher who believes the anti-malaria drug can help beat the virus But medical experts say that there isn’t enough clinical evidence to conclude that the medicine works and is safe for Covid-19 patients

The French president spent three hours meeting with Didier Raoult, the researcher who believes the anti-malaria drug can help beat the virus

But medical experts say that there isn’t enough clinical evidence to conclude that the medicine works and is safe for Covid-19 patients