French President Macron visits French doctor behind hydroxychloroquine coronavirus 'cure' touted by Trump
EXCERPT
President Emmanuel Macron visited a French doctor in Marseille on Thursday whose work on a drug normally used for auto-immune diseases has been promoted by US President Donald Trump as a potential weapon against Covid-19 but has split medical opinion.Macron, who met Professor Didier Raoult at his Marseille hospital behind closed doors, did not endorse the treatment, his office said, adding that it was too early for the French government to assess its effectiveness.
"One visit does not legitimate a scientific protocol, a visit simply marks the head of state's interest for these clinical trials, whether they are promising or not," a presidential adviser said.
But the presidential visit is a boost for the Marseille professor, who has become one of France's best-known doctors after his treatment was cited in a tweet by Trump, calling it "one of the biggest game-changers in the history of medicine".
His research team has published data showing that out of 80 mild Covid-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, 93 percent had no detectable levels of the virus after eight days.
