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A French doctor who popularized the now-discredited hydroxychloroquine treatment for COVID-19 is under fire for an alleged pattern of unauthorized experiments on homeless people.
Didier Raoult, 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. Today the World Health Organization and other national health agencies advise against its use in COVID patients, citing side effects that might arise from the ineffective treatment.
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.