Brazil’s federal health regulator Anvisa issued a statement this afternoon informing that it has suspended all import authorizations for androgen receptor antagonist proxalutamide. Studies using the drug are also banned.
Anvisa also decided to launch a probe into “potential sanitary infractions” in documents submitted by importers upon requesting authorization, after identifying suspicions that some of the documents may have been fraudulent.
The decision comes after news website Matinal reported the HBMPA military hospital in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre had administered proxalutamide to roughly 50 Covid-19 patients in March, despite lacking regulatory approval for clinical trials.
In June, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro lauded proxalutamide as the “new chloroquine” — a reference to the antimalarial drug the president touted as a “potential miracle cure” for Covid-19, despite a dearth of scientific evidence as to its efficacy.
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