They accuse a health company in Brazil of secretly administering unproven drugs against covid-19: nine people died in the trials

(CNN) – The health service provider Prevent Senior has been accused in Brazil of administering untested covid-19 drugs to patients without their knowledge, during a hearing of the Parliamentary Investigation Committee on Coronavirus (CPI) held this Tuesday.

Attorney Bruna Morato described the allegations of 12 anonymous doctors who had previously worked at Prevent Senior. The company, which runs a chain of hospitals and also offers private health insurance, has denied all the allegations.

Morato alleged that Prevent Senior used its hospitals as “laboratories” to conduct studies with the so-called “covid kit”, which contained drugs that were shown to be ineffective for the treatment of covid-19, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. These studies would have been carried out between March and April 2020.

According to Morato, at least nine patients from Prevent Senior hospitals they died due to covid-19 during those trials.

“Guinea pigs”

Prevent Senior did not inform patients and their families that these drugs were being administered to them, and doctors were pressured internally to prescribe and distribute those drugs, Morato has also said. “Very vulnerable elderly patients were told there was good treatment, but they didn’t know they were being used as guinea pigs,” Morato said.

The Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office and the São Paulo Civil Police are investigating these and other complaints.

Morato claimed that the use of the “covid kit” was a cost reduction strategy. “According to the doctors’ reports, it was much cheaper to make a set of drugs available to patients than to hospitalize them,” Morato said.

Threats against doctors

Asked by Senator Renan Calheiros why doctors were prescribing the kits to patients despite the lack of evidence of their effectiveness, Morato said that doctors who did not comply faced “retaliation”, “punishment” and even violence. dismissal. “It reached such a regrettable point (…) that the doctors on duty handed over the kit to the patients and said:” I have to give it to them, because if I don’t give it up, they will fire me, “Morato told the CPI.

In a statement sent to CNN, the company denied all the allegations and said it was defamed.

“Prevent Senior denies the accusations and repudiates the lying accusations filed anonymously before the covid CPI and the press. The lawyer’s testimony before the CPI confirms today that these are unfounded accusations, which are based on leaked fake or edited messages to the press and that will be dismantled throughout the investigations. “

Morato also claimed that Prevent Senior had established a relationship with doctors and specialists who advised the federal government, with the intention of shielding the trials. “Prevent Senior was confident that it would not be inspected by the Ministry of Health or other related bodies,” he said.

The Health Ministry did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.