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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday said his government would seek emergency use authorization for a nasal spray Israel-developed against COVID-19 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as a “miracle” treatment.
“EXO-CD24 is a nasal spray developed by the Ichilov Medical Center in Israel, with almost 100% effectiveness – 29 out of 30 – against COVID in severe cases,” Bolsonaro tweeted, two days after speaking on the phone with Netanyahu, who calls the Brazilian far-right leader a “good friend”.
“A request for analysis of this drug for emergency use will be sent shortly to (federal health regulator) Anvisa,” Bolsonaro wrote.
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Ichilov Hospital announced two weeks ago that one of its researchers had performed phase one testing – usually the first of three phases in clinical trials – on a nasal spray he developed for respiratory symptoms related to COVID-19.
– EXO-CD24 is a nasal spray developed by the Ichilov Medical Center in Israel, with an effectiveness close to 100% (29/30), in severe cases, against Covid.
– ANVISA will soon send the analysis request for emergency use of the drug. pic.twitter.com/BldSkzYZo0
– Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) February 15, 2021
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 released from the hospital within three to five days.
But the hospital has not said whether a placebo was given to a control group and has yet to publish its results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
To be accepted as effective by scientists, new treatments usually need to go through randomized, controlled, blinded clinical trials that are then shared in a research publication.
However, that did not stop Netanyahu from hailing EXO-CD24 as a “miracle” drug last week.
Bolsonaro has also been eager to adopt experimental treatments for COVID-19, even when questioned by health experts.
Fiercely critical of the lockdown measures, which he says are unnecessarily damaging the economy, he has instead fervently pushed the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak at a joint press conference at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, March 31, 2019. (DEBBIE HILL / POOL / AFP)
He took the latter himself 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 steps after winning the election in 2018, he vowed to follow the lead of his political model, then of US President Donald Trump, and move the Brazilian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The South American country opened a trade office in the Israeli capital in 2019, in a move hailed as a harbinger of the opening of an embassy in the city.
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