France Investigation

Covid-19: the questions over French professor who claims a cure

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues its devastating path across the world, wreaking close to 200,000 recorded deaths from the virus and a global economic meltdown, the only evident hopes for a stabilised return to normal activity lies in a vaccine or a drug treatment to contain its spread. But few believe a vaccine will be realistically ready before, at the earliest, 2021. French microbiologist Didier Raoult has championed an immediately available antiviral compound called chloriquine, previously used against malaria, as a miracle drug that neutralises the virus, receiving the support of US President Donald Trump and last week hosting a visit to his laboratory by French President Emmanuel Macron. But as Pascale Pascariello reports, deep controversy surrounds the work of Raoult, a maverick amid France’s scientific establishment.

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The claims that the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, which is also used for treating auto-immune illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, could prove to be successful in treating Covid-19 virus infection have excited interest worldwide, especially in the absence of a vaccine which is forecast as unlikely to appear before 2021. 

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Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

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#FREEMORTAZA

Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

Learn more about #FREEMORTAZA