Venezuelan Premier Claims "Magic Drops" Neutralize Coronavirus

This article is part of IranWire's ongoing coverage about Covid-19 disinformation in different countries, in partnership with Health Studio.

By Florencia Montaruli for Health Studio

On January 24, 2021, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro announced in a televised address that Venezuelan scientists had been working for months on a drug capable of "one hundred per cent" neutralizing the symptoms of Covid-19.

In his speech Maduro called the new drug "El Carvativir, better known as the miraculous drops of José Gregorio Hernández": alluding to a figure known as "the doctor of the poor" from the 1910s, who was beatified by Pope Francisco in 2020.

The Venezuelan president continued: "[It’s a] totally innocuous medicine. It does not have any type of side effect," adding that the drug displayed "tremendous effectiveness... Ten drops under the tongue every four hours and the miracle is done. It is a powerful antiviral, very powerful, that neutralizes the coronavirus. Made in Venezuela.”

Tweet reads: “Carvativir, the miraculous droplets of José Gregorio Hernández, neutralize the symptoms of coronavirus. From Venezuela to the world! Starting this week, mass production begins, so that the entire National Public Health System has this powerful antiviral.”

He went on to announce that large scale production of the 'medicine' would begin that week, in the hope that it would soon be available to Diagnostic and Orientation Centres (CDI) nationwide, in addition to all the other countries of the ALBA-TCP bloc: Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Haiti.

During the broadcast, Maduro also declared that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez would hand over all the Carvativir researcher's scientific information to the Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "so that he knows and certifies this powerful antiviral".

The president refused to give the name of the lead scientist, claiming this was for the scientist’s "protection". But the project leader, a chemical engineer and poet named Raúl Ojeda Rondón, offered his own statements to the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional. “It is a scientific investigation, not a political one,” he said. “Tests were carried out in Turkey, Iran and the United States”.

Rondón went on to explain: “Carvativir is a purified, synthesized, modified molecule with an excipient that has a high property to stimulate the response of the immune and innate human system. We verify it with clinical and paraclinical tests." He also gave his guarantee that researchers had complied with the three phases of pharmaceutical testing required by international regulations.

However, the National Academy of Venezuelan Medicine then published a statement in response which was shared widely by Venezuelan doctors. This body denied having knowledge of any scientific study that had proved the efficacy of this or any other so-called natural remedy against Covid-19.

Statement reads: “This Academy is not aware of any study that scientifically demonstrates the effectiveness of this or any other 'natural' treatment for the Covid-19, even more so when, in addition to it being a new virus, there was no knowledge or experience in the management and treatment of the same in Venezuela until March 13, the date of the appearance of Covid-19 in our country."

International doctors such as Roberto Debbag, vice president of the Latin American Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, also raised concerns about Carativir. Speaking to the Argentina-based website Infobae, he said: “There is no data beyond what was expressed by President Maduro. There are no publications or scientific evidence from local or Venezuelan experts. Let's hope that the evidence will evolve to show whether it is a useful antiviral for the treatment of coronavirus."

Sylvain Aldighieri, deputy director of the Health Emergencies department at the Pan American Health Organization, has also urged the Venezuelan government to make the drug studies public.

Peer review and scientific transparency will now be imperative to building trust in Maduro's claims. If the "miracle drops" prove less effective than described, there could be multiple harmful consequences: either that Venezuelans believe they are "protected" from Covid-19 and stop taking the preventative measures recommended by the WHO, or that public trust in the government and science is further diminished.