-
‘Child-friendly’ stickers for cafés to launch in France
Red stickers will promote spaces that welcome children in face of growing – and controversial – ‘no-kid’ movement
-
Big drop in telephone fees but rises for food and services: France’s June 2025 inflation stats
Year-on-year inflation picks up to reach 1% in France
-
Macron pledges billions in extra defence funding for French army
By 2027 the sum given to the military will have doubled from 2017, but the president did not lay out where extra funds will come from
‘Miracle molecule’ effective against Covid found in Lille
A “miracle molecule” that appears to be effective against the virus that causes Covid-19, with almost no side effects, has been discovered at the Institut Pasteur in Lille.

The treatment is already used in several European countries for other conditions.
After extensive tests at the Hauts-de-France laboratory, the medication has been found to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes Covid-19 - with few, if any, side effects.
A member of the research team in Lille, who is also director of a company that specialises in the “repositioning” of existing medications from one use to another, told news source RTL: “We used this product, which is not found everywhere.
“The principal action happens mainly in the airways, and the lungs, which is where the virus is found at the beginning of the illness.”
He reiterated that the medication does not appear to cause many, if any, side effects.
Now, several hundred patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 are set to take part in a clinical trial of the drug, before it is hypothetically put on the market for this purpose.
Yet, the Institut Pasteur Lille has not yet revealed the name of its “miracle molecule”.
The researcher said: “We want to keep the name of this medicine secret to avoid [stoking] a parallel market, prescriptions going out-of-control, and to ensure stocks can be managed.”
Many researchers across the world - including at the Institut Pasteur in Paris - are working to find a vaccine for Covid-19, as well as an antiviral cure, but none have been found definitively yet.
Related stories
French Covid test with 30 minute result time approved