The Marseille University Hospital Institute (IHU) has been conducting irregular clinical trials on tuberculosis treatments for several years under the direction of controversial professor Didier Raoult, the Mediapart website reported on Friday.
"
Since 2017
", the IHU of Marseille "has been
carrying out a wild experiment against tuberculosis, causing in several patients, including a minor, serious complications
", explains the site, which quotes several employees of the Institute on condition of anonymity. .
This experiment was "
initiated by its director, Didier Raoult, and his deputy, Michel Drancourt
", specifies Mediapart.
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According to the site, which is also based on email exchanges and hospitalization reports, teams from the IHU have tested a combination of four drugs whose joint effectiveness had never been evaluated.
These trials were carried out despite the refusal of the French Medicines Authority, the ANSM, which must give its approval to research involving human beings, in particular clinical trials of drugs.
“
Several patients, including a 17-year-old minor, had serious medical complications caused by this treatment,
” explains Médiapart.
Studies outside the rules
Asked by AFP, the IHU of Marseille did not respond immediately.
The ANSM, without mentioning these trials in particular, recognized that several studies had been carried out in an “
inadmissible
” manner by the body and that “
adequate follow-up
” had been initiated by the Agency, without further clarification. .
The information from Mediapart comes in addition to revelations published during the summer by L'Express according to which many studies carried out at the IHU have for years been freeing themselves from the rules governing experiments involving human beings.
Read also Clinical trials at the IHU: "investigations" of the ANSM on possible "breaches of the regulations"
The IHU and Didier Raoult encountered a strong media aura at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, by promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the disease, despite the lack of proven effect.
Several studies have been carried out by the IHU to support the interest of this treatment, but they have been criticized by many scientists as to their methodology and their conditions.
More recently, Didier Raoult has been the subject of criticism for having advertised a Brazilian study defending a treatment based on hydroxycholoroquine, while these trials then caused a vast scandal for having been carried out on patients without their consent, and for giving rise to the publication of truncated results.
