Ivermectin … Once Again


In general why would anybody want to stop people from using a drug that potentially very useful against Covid and at the same time is a very safe drug. I have my opinion and my reasoning involves something that begins with a C. Those that know me would 100% agree that I usually do not believe in C theories, but let’s take a reasonable look at some facts. 

First: Ivermectin is not a new drug. It was discovered in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981. It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. Ivermectin is FDA-approved as an antiparasitic agent, and has been used worldwide for a multitude of parasitic infections, with estimates running into hundreds of millions people having been treated with Ivermectin. … Hmmm!

Second: As all physicians know, no drug is without potential side effects. The side effect profile garnered from many years of experience in an uber number of patients worldwide reveals Ivermectin to be quite safe. Hmmm!

Third: Ivermectin is inexpensive. At present it costs about $2.90 for 100 twelve mg. sized tablets (The initial price proposed by Merck in 1987 was US$6 per treatment, not affordable for most patients in Africa. The company donated hundreds of millions of courses of treatments since 1988 in more than 30 countries.) As of 2019, ivermectin tablets in the United States were the least expensive treatment option for lice in children at about US$10.

Hmmm!

Fourth: A recent peer reviewed meta-analysis study published in the American Journal of Therapeutics published on 6/24/21 demonstrated a probable 62% decreased mortality (3406 patients in 24 trials) and a possible 86% decrease in the transmissibility (2738 patients) of the coronavirus. By the GRADE analysis the mortality decrease was at a moderate level of certainty, and the transmissibility decrease was at a low level of certainty. Hmmm! … interesting.

The NIH last commented on Ivermectin back in February, and basically said that because of insufficient data, it could not recommend for or against its use for Covid.(Note that was four months ago!) In Great Britain  in April, the Cochran Library said that they were going to plan to do a study on Ivermectin in Covid. (Thus far that study has not started.)

Hmmm!

Here’s my dilemma . . . people are dying from Covid all over the world in poorer countries, and there is a safe, cheap, possibly/probably effective drug that could be used extensively both as prophylaxis and as treatment. Why isn’t this happening? Hmmm!

6/30/21

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