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RIO DE JANEIRO, May 14 (Reuters) - 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.”