Is chloroquine an effective remedy against coronavirus? Since the Marseille-based infectious disease specialist Didier Raoult praised the merits of its derivative, hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for Covid-19, the question has ignited passions beyond just the scientific community.
These initial results, faced with the impatience of global opinion, have produced an explosive mix of excessive media coverage, heated debates, and longstanding animosities among leading figures.
While some want to see the medication as a reason to hope, others remind us how medical history has been marked by disappointments, matching the dramatic announcements that sometimes preceded them.
The history of medicine is marked by loud announcements and dashed hopes. This was notably the case in the fight against AIDS, with the cyclosporine affair.
And if I were to tell you an old story? A story of media and scientific frenzy?
A bit of context: it’s fall 1985, in the heart of what would later be called “the AIDS years.” Worldwide, researchers are in search of a treatment or vaccine to curb the epidemic.
On October 29, pulmonologist Philippe Even, oncologist Jean-Marie Andrieu, and immunologist Alain Venet organized, with the Ministry of Social Affairs, a press conference at the Laennec Hospital in Paris. In a jam-packed amphitheater, they announced they had obtained “extraordinary” results in treating AIDS, using cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant usually used in organ transplants.
But very quickly, hopes were dashed. The two treated patients died. The hope born from the general buzz fell flat. “We were in an era where the influence of science on medical practice was less significant. Doctors relied more on experience, transmission… And then, like in any human, there is a part of pride, of vanity,” recalls a witness from that era.
Have all the lessons from what became the cyclosporine affair been learned? “Regarding chloroquine, Olivier Véran is very cautious,” he notes.
Will the enthusiasm generated by Dr. Raoult’s announcements meet the same fate? Nothing allows us to assert that today: only the large-scale European clinical trial that has just been launched will shed some light.
Patience is the mother of all virtues.
