Novak Djokovic during a practice session ahead of the 2022 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 12, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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“So, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Novak’s ‘biotech company’ is working on homeopathy as a cure for COVID,” Saunders added.“The approach described on the QuantBioRes website doesn’t reflect contemporary understanding of biochemistry, and I can find no convincing evidence that their method is able to produce effective peptides,” Saunders told VICE News. “They also incorrectly state that coronavirus is a retrovirus. So it’s highly unlikely this approach will lead to a successful treatment for COVID-19.”In an email to VICE News, Loncarevic said he and Djokovic were not “anti-vaxxers,” and dismissed Saunders’ criticism, saying he “does not know anything about our work. We are definitely not using any homeopathic approach.” The CEO admitted that the company “does not use a classical biochemical approach” but claimed “that is why we are innovative.”He also said that “there is no way you get a permit to conduct clinical trials, if pre-clinical tests are not well documented.”Danish scientist Hiren Joshi also raised concerns about QuantBioRes, pointing out that a paper explaining how RRM technology could be used to find a cure for COVID-19 was published in the journal MPDI. The publisher of academic papers has a long history of publishing controversial papers, including one in 2021 that concluded that COVID-19 vaccines showed a “lack of clear benefit.” The article was widely criticized for misusing data to reach a false conclusion and was ultimately retracted.
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Loncarevic was one of the authors of the paper on RRM technology, along with Irena Cosic, another Serbian who has been the lead researcher into RRM technology, which she first wrote about in 1994. Cosic didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from VICE News about her research and links to Loncarevic. MDPI did not respond to a request for comment about the validity of the paper.Loncarevic told Reuters the company has 11 researchers working in Denmark, Australia, and Slovenia, but Joshi points out that QuantBioRes’s listed headquarters appears to be an apartment block in the Soborg suburb of Copenhagen.
Loncarevic, who is originally from Djokovic’s hometown of Belgrade, appears to be in lockstep with his largest shareholder when it comes to his opinion of the threat posed by COVID-19.A review of Loncarevic’s Facebook pages shows him sharing a lot of COVID-19 misinformation, and many of the posts have been blocked or labeled by the social network for containing misleading information.
He also coauthored a paper published in January 2021 that supported the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19. The anti-parasitic drug, which is effective for a variety of conditions in humans and animals, continues to be studied as a possible treatment for COVID, but to date has no proven use in treating or preventing COVID-19.
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