Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Medical researcher who touted Covid ‘cure’ and was hailed by Dr Oz under fire over ethics
Medical researcher who touted Covid ‘cure’ and was hailed by Dr Oz under fire over ethics
“New findings further call into question scientific judgment of current health leaders in the Trump administration
A French researcher whose work was praised by Donald Trump and Dr Mehmet Oz during the Covid-19 pandemic published hundreds of papers with “substantial” ethical and legal concerns, according to a new analysis.
An international team of scientists found concerns in 853 articles published by the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or the IHU, hundreds more than previously flagged by past investigations into work at the large research hospital. Of those, institute founder Didier Raoult was listed as co-author on 758 of them, according to one of the researchers behind the new analysis.
Raoult rocketed to the global stage in March 2020, when the novel virus was spreading unchecked and killing people across the world. He and several colleagues published research that claimed hydroxychloroquine – a drug used for malaria and certain autoimmune conditions – was found to be an effective treatment for Covid-19, especially in combination with the drug azithromycin.
Trump at the time called Raoult’s research on hydroxychloroquine a “gamechanger”, though many scientists disagreed and raised concerns about the quality of the research, including Dr Anthony Fauci, then a top Trump adviser.
Despite those calls for caution, Oz, who now heads the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency responsible for $1.6tn in spending, echoed Trump at the time in calling Raoult’s work a gamechanger. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, made a high-profile visit to the institute and met with Raoult. Later, Robert F Kennedy Jr called Raoult’s work “powerful” and dedicated a book he wrote that blasted Fauci in part to Raoult.
The drug has not been shown to be effective as a Covid-19 treatment, and the paper was ultimately retracted for ethical and scientific reasons in 2025. But it had become one of the most famous articles of the pandemic era, having been cited thousands of times.
The new findings further call into question the scientific judgment of current health leaders in the Trump administration, who have said they are committed to restoring what they call “gold-standard science” informing federal policy. A Republican-led committee of the US Senate recently voted to hold Fauci in contempt for pleading the fifth during a hearing about Covid-19’s origins.
“If Oz had reviewed/read the study correctly he would have found many of the problems” that were raised about it, said Lonni Besançon, an assistant professor in data visualization at Linköping University in Sweden and a member of the international research team that did the new analysis, which was published this month in the journal Research Integrity and Peer Review.
Besançon said the now-retracted article was used to claim there was a cure for Covid, led to shortages of hydroxychloroquine and drove scientists to pour their attention into researching that drug rather than other promising leads. It also fueled conspiracy theories from people who argued the article was being attacked “because if there was a cure for Covid then they couldn’t sell their vaccines”, he said.
“A lot of time was wasted,” Besançon said. “It’s been a massively influential paper, and it’s also been used to push for an antivax agenda.”
Trump, Oz and Kennedy promoted the research
Fauci, who was a leading member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, was asked at a news conference with Trump on 20 March 2020 whether there was evidence hydroxychloroquine could be used to combat Covid-19. Fauci, standing with the president, replied, “The answer is no,” called such research “anecdotal evidence” and noted it was not done in a controlled clinical trial. He called for rigorous scientific research to show whether it would be both safe and effective.
But the next day, Trump cited Raoult’s research in a tweet, saying hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin “have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine” and saying he hoped they would be put in use immediately.
Two days later, Oz, then a TV personality and physician, appeared on Fox & Friends, where he said he was “flabbergasted” by Raoult’s research and urged the US government to procure the drug.
“I read the study. I was stunned. Literally, a jaw dropped. I didn’t know it was possible,” Oz said.
While Oz noted it had not been a randomized trial and said he was launching his own such trial to replicate Raoult’s findings, he also called the French work a “gamechanger”.
“The data is so strong, I completely understand why America wants to start taking these pills,” Oz said, before adding that more data was needed.
Publicly, Oz interviewed Raoult multiple times in March and April for his TV show.
Behind the scenes, Oz was emailing Trump administration officials to highlight the research, according to emails later obtained by a US House select committee on the coronavirus crisis. In them, Oz vouched for the quality of Raoult’s research.
“You should know that the French researcher confirmed clinical benefits but needs more data so will not release report for another 10 days. These findings offer hope to our people,” Oz wrote on 22 March. He called it a “potential pandemic solution” in an email to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Six days later, he wrote that Raoult had sent him updated research and that “the treatment appears safe and results are better than expected”.
Trump’s current health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, then leading the anti-vaccine activist group Children’s Health Defense, named Raoult among the “heroic” scientists to whom he dedicated his 2021 book, The Real Anthony Fauci. Kennedy’s book attacked Fauci for his stance toward hydroxychloroquine.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not return requests for comment about Kennedy’s and Oz’s promotion of Raoult’s work.
Widespread ethical problems
The team of researchers has been digging into the IHU’s work for years. They initially looked at 2,674 papers published by the institute between 1994 and 2024 and discovered various ethical concerns in 853 of them.
For example, the team noted that French law requires certain steps be taken when using human subjects in biomedical research in order to protect people from harm. The team estimates that at least 78 articles describe biomedical research “that appears not to comply with the applicable French law”, they wrote.
The team also found 343 articles in which no ethics approvals were ever recorded, dozens of approvals that appear to have been obtained retrospectively after the study began and repeated reuse of ethics approvals for different studies, among other issues.
They noted that while issues such as fraud and plagiarism often get more attention when it comes to research misconduct, ethical problems can undermine public trust in research and in the scientific process.
The findings have in the past few years led to 64 articles being retracted and 270 being tagged with an “expression of concern”, which can indicate that major and credible concerns have been raised about the article, the team wrote.
They called for additional review of the institute’s work “to ensure that the scientific record is corrected where appropriate”. It was critical of the institute as well as of Aix-Marseille University, which they said was largely responsible for overseeing the work there.
“These findings raise broader questions regarding the university’s governance and oversight mechanisms,” they wrote.
Besançon said millions of euros in research funds were “thrown out the window” due to the poor research practices at the IHU, and many students were improperly trained in scientific practices.
“For me, this is what’s important,” he said in an interview. “To make sure we can push for good, scrutinizable and responsible science.”
The university said in a statement that it “conscientiously and responsibly” took “all measures within its remit” from when it was first alerted to problems in 2020. It said it did its own investigation and transferred its findings to relevant authorities, then fully cooperated with the investigations. It said it also “engaged with scientific publishers” and has “continuously strengthened its prevention, support and oversight mechanisms”.
“Research ethics and research integrity are fundamental pillars of Aix Marseille University’s research policy and are at the heart of its commitment to responsible, rigorous and high-quality research,” it said.
Raoult retired in 2021. Though he responded to emails sent to him by the Guardian, he did not address questions about his research and the team’s analysis. In the past, he has stood by his research and criticized decisions to retract his studies. He told Science magazine in 2024 that he followed ethical regulations.
The Guardian also sought comment from the IHU.“
The Gulf Oil Shock Is Pushing E.V. Sales to New Heights. See Where.
Aug. 18, 2026
“Electric car sales are on track to hit record highs this year, with 29 percent of all new cars purchased around the world expected to be either purely battery-powered models or plug-in hybrids, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency. That’s a sharp increase from just 4 percent in 2020.
The boom in sales was somewhat unexpected. Analysts had predicted a slower market for electric vehicles this year — until the U.S. war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz caused oil and gasoline prices to spike. That has led to a frenzy of electric car sales in many unexpected corners of the globe.
In South Africa, sales of electric cars more than quintupled in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. In Laos, imports of battery-powered vehicles from China are soaring. And in countries as different as Australia, Colombia and South Korea, the E.V. share of total new car sales has nearly doubled since fighting in the Middle East began.
Electric vehicle registrations continue to rise
Based on April-July average market share
Ukraine’s E.V. tax exemption ended in January, and conflict has damaged charging infrastructure.
Some countries, like France, Australia and Colombia, saw E.V. market share grow more in the past year than the five years prior.
Percentage point change since 2025
Note: Electric vehicles exclude plug-in hybrid models. Vehicle categories vary by country. Source: Government and industry data compiled by Robbie Andrew, senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.
The rise of electric vehicles is upending international car markets. Total sales of traditional cars with internal combustion engines have been in a steady decline, and this year, they’re expected to reach their lowest level since the early 2000s.
What makes the surge in electric car sales especially striking is that E.V. purchases have actually declined this year in both China and the United States, the world’s two largest automobile markets.
In China, which accounts for roughly half of all E.V. sales worldwide, a weakening economy and reduction in government subsidies led to a drop in overall purchases this year. (While electric vehicles improved their market share, the total number of cars sold declined in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2025.) China still has roughly as many electric vehicles on the road as the rest of the world combined, a trend that has noticeably curtailed the nation’s oil use.
The United States also saw a dip in sales this spring after Republicans in Congress phased out a $7,500 tax credit for electric cars last year. The Biden administration had pushed to expand the credit to help fight climate change, since electric vehicles produce fewer emissions than their gasoline- or diesel-powered counterparts.
A widening E.V. gap in the world’s largest car markets
Electric vehicle market share
United States
Tax credit ends
Hormuz closure
China
Direct subsidies end
Tax exemption reduced
Note: Electric vehicles exclude plug-in hybrid models. Vehicle categories vary by country. Source: Government and industry data compiled by Robbie Andrew, senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.
Yet higher oil prices have pushed customers to go electric in many other markets.
Since the Iran war began in February, the price of Brent crude, a global benchmark for oil, has increased more than 25 percent. Over that timeframe, E.V. sales have roughly doubled in Australia, Brazil, India and South Korea compared with the same period in 2025.
Car sales fluctuate for a variety of reasons — including government policies, economic conditions and the availability of new models — but there is good reason to think that at least some of this year’s E.V. boom is related to the spike in the price of oil and gasoline. Online searches for electric vehicles have increased significantly since the war began, according to an analysis by BloombergNEF, with some of the biggest increases in countries that have seen the largest rise in fuel prices.
Andrew Grant, an analyst at BloombergNEF, said that some of the increase in sales this spring could be consumers who had already been planning to buy an electric car and simply sped up their purchases. Still, he said, “as we see sustained or higher oil prices, you probably will get higher E.V. sales than what you might have seen otherwise.”
Where electric vehicle sales have surged
Largest year-on-year gains in E.V. market share based on available registration data
Singapore
Uruguay
France
Slovenia
South Korea
Australia
New Zealand
Colombia
Note: Selection includes countries with available registration data. Electric vehicles exclude plug-in hybrid models. Vehicle categories vary by country. Source: Government and industry data compiled by Robbie Andrew, senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.
More than a dozen governments have also announced new policies to encourage electric vehicle adoption since the conflict began, as countries have sought to curb their imports of expensive oil. Ireland and the Netherlands introduced programs to encourage drivers to trade in their older combustion-engine vehicles for electric models. Chile provided incentives for buses and taxis to go electric. Spain extended electric vehicle tax credits for consumers. China has set new goals to electrify its trucks.
“The crisis has clearly reinforced the case for E.V.s as a way to address energy security and fuel cost concerns,” the International Energy Agency said in a report last month. The agency noted that vehicles on the road account for roughly half of the world’s oil use.
Even if sales have slowed in China, the growing popularity of electric cars worldwide has been a boon for the country that produces more of them than anywhere else. Chinese companies have already exported roughly 2.4 million electric vehicles in the first half of this year, nearly as many as they did in all of 2025, according to the I.E.A.
China’s electric car exports now far outstrip all U.S. car exports
Chinese E.V. exports
All U.S. passenger vehicle exports
Hormuz closure
Note: Chinese passenger E.V. exports include plug-in hybrid passenger cars. Source: Ember, United States International Trade Commission.
Although policymakers in Europe and the United States have eyed China’s growing dominance of the global car market with alarm, many countries have welcomed low-cost Chinese electric vehicles as a way to save money on fuel.
In Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and South Africa, imported Chinese models make up more than 80 percent of electric car sales. Since the war began, a number of countries, including Cambodia and Kenya, have temporarily slashed tariffs on imported electric vehicles. In Laos, the government went further and barred imports of gasoline-powered cars for the rest of 2026 while cutting taxes on electric cars — leading to a rush of Chinese E.V.s.
One big question is what would happen to global E.V. sales if the conflict in Iran stopped and the Strait of Hormuz were reopened, leading to a drop in global oil prices.
In the short term, electric car sales could slow somewhat if drivers are no longer fretting as much about the price of gas. But over the long run, many analysts think that battery-powered vehicles will continue to win out.
Currently, in many car markets, an electric car is more expensive to purchaseupfront than a comparable gasoline- or diesel-powered model, which tends to be the biggest consideration for most consumers. But that could change within the next three to five years if battery prices continue to fall, Mr. Grant of BloombergNEF said. (Batteries are typically the most expensive part of these vehicles.)
“Oil prices will rise and fall, but the fundamental economics of batteries becoming cheaper, in our view, means that more E.V.s will be sold over time,” Mr. Grant said.
At the same time, even with higher upfront costs, electric vehicles tend to be cheaper to operate over their lifetimes, thanks to lower fuel and maintenance costs. That’s a bigger consideration for some people, such as ride-sharing drivers who might drive three to five times as much each year as an ordinary driver. Those drivers are already adopting electric vehicles at a somewhat higher rate, Mr. Grant said.“
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