Brazil to set up workgroup to study possible cancer cure

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RIO DE JANEIRO—The Brazilian government announced Thursday it will set up a workgroup to study the effects of a substance called phosphoethanolamine, after it showed good results in cancer treatment.

The phosphoethanolamine pills, developed by chemistry professor Gilberto Orivaldo Chierice from the Sao Paulo University (USP) and several other scientists, has not been submitted to clinical trial, but were distributed by the USP to some cancer patients, who claimed they have had good results and were even cured of the disease.

The workgroup is expected to set up pre-clinical and clinical trials to assess the effects of the pill in cancer treatment.

Brazil’s National Cancer Institute (Inca) and the country’s new drug registration authority Anvisa will take part in the group.

While announcing the decision to set up the workgroup, Health Minister Marcelo Castro also urged patients not to use the pill before clinical trials are completed.