The Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Marcos Pontes, revealed today that a drug tested against the new coronavirus was 94% effective after 48 hours of ‘in vitro’ studies.
“The drug was 94% successful, working on the real tissue and inhibiting this ability of the virus to react,” said the Brazilian minister at a conference with journalists in Brasília.
Pontes explained that the drug does not contain chloroquine, a substance tested to fight the disease caused by the new coronavirus, whose use is defended by the country’s President, Jair Bolsonaro.
The Minister of Science and Technology explained that this other drug was tested by scientists at the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials and has lesser side effects than chloroquine.
“This one [remédio] specifically it has a very big advantage because it has little side effect and can be used in a large range of the population “, said the minister.
Pontes explained that the Brazilian government approved a clinical trial of the new substance in 500 patients admitted to seven hospitals in the country and stressed that it would not identify the name of the drug used in the research to prevent riots in pharmacies before the results on its effectiveness are proven.
“This [teste do medicamento] it will be done in an extremely scientific way, using all the scientific formalism (…) I cannot speak the name of the medicine, I made a point of not knowing the name of the medicine to avoid a rush around it while it is not yet tested “, said Pontes.
“In the middle of the month of May, with all this working, considering the four weeks of tests and the diagnostic and testing system working around the month of May, we will have a tool to fight this pandemic here in Brazil”, he concluded.
On Tuesday, Brazil recorded 204 deaths due to the new coronavirus and broke a new daily record, counting 1,532 deaths and 25,262 infected since the beginning of the pandemic. The South American country recorded 204 deaths (99 more than on Monday), and 1,832 new cases of infected people (571 more).
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