Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, addressing the nation last month in a social media video, touted the latest in a string of unconventional drugs he says can ease the country’s COVID-19 crisis.
Bolsonaro – a vaccine skeptic and promoter of discredited treatments such as hydroxychloroquine – said this new drug, Proxalutamide, would “soon be available to all Brazil.” He invited a little-known Health Ministry official, Helio Angotti, to expand on its promise.
Angotti, an eye doctor with no epidemiological experience, cited a domestic Proxalutamide study showing a 92% decrease in mortality risk among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. It was a dramatic claim amid a global struggle to find effective treatments. He said he aimed to “get it to the Brazilian population as soon as possible.”
But the study – co-authored by a consultant Angotti hired – hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published, beyond a cursory results presentation the authors released in a March news conference. The drug does not have regulatory approval and isn’t available for sale.
