, a famed microbiologist who led the IHU Mediterranee research hospital until last year, became an internationally renowned figure in alternative medical circles in 2020, when he promoted the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a COVID cure. Figures like Donald Trump hyped the drug as a COVID-killer, until extensive study showed hydroxychloroquine to have little to no effect on the virus.
Now French authorities and journalists allege a longer pattern of questionable research by Raoult and his associated institutions, beginning with medical tests on homeless people that might have violated French law.alleges that Raoult and colleagues violated the nation’s 1988 Huriet Law establishing rights for participants in biomedical research trials.
Questions of medical ethics have followed Raoult since he began offering hydroxychloroquine for COVID patients., a French health agency issued a scathing investigation into a hospital Raoult directed, accusing both of “serious breaches and non-compliance with the regulations for research involving the human person.”
The agency found the research institute to have collected biological samples from patients without proper consent. The report also accused the institute of forging a signature from a member of an ethics committee. The investigations led to sanctions against the research