Misrepresented as a miracle molecule against Covid-19, hydroxychloroquine is linked to nearly 17,000 deaths in six countries, according to a French study.
Published on April 1, 2024 11:29 am
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In 2020, hydroxychloroquine was prescribed and manufactured at an accelerated pace worldwide, led by certain doctors like Didier Raoult or certain politicians like Donald Trump. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
The work of French researchers revealing the dangers of hydroxychloroquine has just been published in a very reputable international pharmacology journal. In spring 2020, hydroxychloroquine caused the deaths of 16,990 people in Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and the United States, according to this study.
In France alone, this molecule is linked to 200 deaths during the first wave of Covid-19. This drug, originally used against malaria, was presented as an effective treatment against Covid-19 by Professor Didier Raoult, former director of the IHU in Marseille. It was heavily prescribed in many countries during the first wave.
Cardiac arrhythmias
However, several research studies have subsequently highlighted its ineffectiveness for this indication. A study published in Nature in 2021 reported an 11% increase in mortality rates associated with the prescription of drugs against Covid-19 due to possible side effects such as cardiac arrhythmias, but also due to loss of chances compared to the use of other treatments that were effective.
To arrive at this figure of 16,990 deaths, researchers at the Hospices Civils de Lyon (13 public hospitals of excellence) had to cross-reference between hospitalization data for Covid-19, exposure to hydroxychloroquine and the increase in relative risk of death for each of the six countries studied Related to this drug, the famous 11% previously published in the journal Nature. So here we are talking about statistical data in which there is a margin of error.
The number of victims is likely to be significantly larger
However, for the authors, the number of victims is likely much larger, as this study only covers six countries in the period March to July 2020, while hydroxychloroquine was prescribed more widely. The authors of this work definitely point out the dangers of hastily using old medications. And a collective of scientists also recalled this in an article in the newspaper Le Monde last May: “Demonstrating the effects of drugs in humans meets ethical and scientific standards that have been built up over decades,” he wrote.