Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, addressing the nation last month in a video on social media, 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."