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CONTINUATION OF THE TRANSLATED INTERVIEW....

Q: Which leads today to the banning of hydroxychloroquine in France ...

A: We know the harmful effects of hydroxychloroquine, but in very small proportions. And we know that use is problematic in people at risk. I am terrified by the publicity given to an article which should never have been published in a magazine as prestigious as the Lancet.

Suddenly, you suspended the trials started at the CHU of Montpellier on hydroxychloroquine ...

Monday evening, I received an email from the national drug safety agency (ANSM), and I immediately suspended the trials.

Q: So, Are the hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 infection definitely over?

A: The Americans were preparing to launch a therapeutic trial. Will they do it? The World Health Organization (WHO) has also suspended the trials, but we know Donald Trump's relations with the WHO (not good) ... If we leave it there, we will not have an answer on the interest of the treatment.

Q: Do you still think that hydroxychloroquine is of interest?

A: As much as I am skeptical about hydroxychloroquine alone, I think that the association with azythromicine may have an interest, which Professor Raoult could not show because there is a bias in his studies, which included patients who are doing well, and who would never have had any complications.

In its first series of a thousand patients, 30% had a normal lung scan, no signs of pneumonia. The question is, what do we really gain in people with moderately severe conditions? Do we recover earlier? It is a pity that we have not been able to conclude.

Q: What do you think will be the future of Professor Raoult?

A: It will be difficult. The Lancet study is a "murder" in order ... It can recover if the Americans do a serious study, which provides tangible elements. They were to include 2,000 patients in their study. If they do, we will have answers ...

Look, I am neither for nor against Raoult. But his idea was not a rant, the interest presented by hydroxychloroquine is probable, and even if it is not gigantic, it had to be evaluated. Afterwards, there was such a runaway that nothing became controllable.