Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that his government would seek emergency use authorization for a nasal spray developed by Israel against COVID-19 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “miraculous” treatment.
“EXO-CD24 is a nasal spray developed by Ichilov Medical Center in Israel, with almost 100 percent effectiveness – 29 out of 30 – against COVID in serious cases,” tweeted Bolsonaro, two days after talking on the phone with Netanyahu, who calls the leader of the Brazilian extreme right of “good friend”.
“A request for analysis of this medicine for emergency use will soon be sent to Anvisa (federal health regulatory agency),” wrote Bolsonaro.
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Ichilov Hospital announced two weeks ago that one of its researchers performed the Phase One test – usually the first of three phases of clinical tests – in a nasal spray he developed against respiratory symptoms associated with COVID-19.
– EXO-CD24 is a nasal spray developed by the Ichilov Medical Center in Israel, with effectiveness close to 100% (29/30), in severe cases, against Covid.
– ANVISA will soon send the request for analysis for emergency use of the medicine. pic.twitter.com/BldSkzYZo0
– Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) February 15, 2021
The researcher, Nadir Arber, reported that he administered the spray to 30 patients with moderate to severe cases of COVID-19, and that 29 of them were discharged in three to five days.
But the hospital did not say whether a placebo was given to a control group and has not yet published its findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
To be accepted as effective by scientists, new treatments must generally undergo randomized, controlled, blinded clinical trials, which are then shared in a research publication.
However, this did not stop Netanyahu from hailing EXO-CD24 as a “miracle” drug last week.
Bolsonaro is also eager to embrace experimental treatments against COVID-19, even when health experts question them.
A fierce critic of the blocking measures, which he says would needlessly damage the economy, instead he fervently pressed chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine anti-malarial drugs to combat COVID-19.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on the left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak during a joint press conference at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem on March 31, 2019. (DEBBIE HILL / POOL / AFP)
He himself took the latter when he tested positive last July, despite scientists’ findings that the two drugs are ineffective against the new coronavirus.
Bolsonaro has sought to cultivate close ties with Netanyahu.
In one of his first actions after winning the elections in 2018, he promised to follow the example of his political model, then President of the United States Donald Trump, and to transfer the Brazilian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The South American country opened a commercial office in the Israeli capital in 2019, in an action hailed as a harbinger of the opening of an embassy in the city.