In the beginning of the pandemic, it was believed that men were generally more prone to the illness than women and as a result of that, some researchers explored human male hormone blockers, also known as antiandrogens, as a treatment.
Jesem Orellana, an epidemiologist who closely watched the effects of the gamma variant of Covid-19 on the Amazon region at Brazil's leading public health institute Fiocruz, said "the reported results would be a miracle — if they were true" adding that "everything about this trial is suspicious and is anything but clinical and randomised".
Science Magazine also reported that Applied Biology, a Californian hair loss company, where Cadegiani is a clinical director, teamed up with Kintor Pharmaceuticals, proxalutamide's manufacturer based in China.
[19] On September 3, 2021, a criminal complaint was filed before Brazil's Public Prosecutor office in order to investigate the actions taken during the study as well as the consequences of it, including the patients deaths.
[24][25][26] In August 2022 Brazilian Federal prosecutors charged two researchers who ran the medical trial in two separate civil lawsuits as well as three hospital officials who reportedly aided them.