Group that promoted event in Rome with Moraes was condemned – 07/19/2023 – Politics

The event at which STF (Supreme Federal Court) Minister Alexandre de Moraes gave a lecture before being harassed at Rome airport on Friday (14) was promoted by a business group condemned to pay R$ 55 million for collective moral damages for disclosing an alleged “early treatment” against Covid-19.

The International Law Forum, which took place between the 4th and the 14th of July in Valladolid (Spain) and Siena (Italy), had Unialfa as one of its directors, convicted in May by the Federal Court in Rio Grande do Sul for publishing a call “Manifesto Pela Vida”, which encouraged the consumption of ineffective drugs against Covid-19 —the so-called “Covid kit”.

Sought, Minister Alexandre de Moraes did not manifest.

Unialfa is part of the same group as Vitamedic Indústria Farmacêutica —the José Alves Group—, which manufactures the antiparasitic ivermectin.

The companies were condemned to pay the R$ 55 million along with the association Médicos Pela Vida for having published an advertising report citing possible benefits of “early treatment” and drugs without proven effectiveness to combat the disease.

The February 2021 announcements were posted on Sheet and in the newspapers O Globo, Estado de Minas and Zero Hora, among others. The next day, the Sheet published a report on advertisements that defended the use of medication without proven efficacy against Covid-19.

In his decisions, Judge Gabriel Von Gehlen, responsible for the case, stated that it was evidenced that “the ‘manifesto for life’ was an illicit propaganda mechanism by a drug manufacturer laboratory, serving the defendant of the sad role of orange for shady and violating purposes of fundamental value, the protection of public health”.

“The only and pure illicit advertising of medicines, due to the risks of their irrational use, already represents a shock to public health and its essentiality requires due reparation”, said the magistrate.

He claims that the complicity between Vitamedic and the association Médicos Pela Vida was proven, since the pharmaceutical company financed the advertising in R$ 717 thousand.

In a statement to the Covid CPI, the director of the Vitamedic laboratory, Jailton Batista, said that the company allocated this amount to media advertisements that advocate early treatment against Covid-19.

Batista also acknowledged that the company did not carry out studies to verify the effectiveness of ivermectin to treat the disease. The drug is considered the flagship of the laboratory, which has multiplied sales during the pandemic.

According to Batista said in a statement, the company earned BRL 15.7 million in 2019, an amount that increased to BRL 470 million in 2020.

In the pandemic, Minister Alexandre de Moraes was notable for decisions against those responsible for spreading lies about the vaccine. The magistrate even conducts an inquiry against former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) for spreading lies about the vaccine against Covid.

Also wanted, the José Alves Group and Unialfa have not yet manifested themselves.