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Goa Govt Asks People To Take Ivermectin To Fight Covid, WHO Warns Against Its Use

Goa Govt Asks People To Take Ivermectin To Fight Covid, WHO Warns Against Its Use
Ivermectin is approved for the treatment of intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis in the US.

While some experts have claimed ivermectin as a miracle cure for Covid-19, premier health agencies like WHO and FDA have warned against its use for Covid-19 treatment.

Written by Longjam Dineshwori |Updated : May 12, 2021 9:12 AM IST

A new Covid treatment protocol approved by the Goa state government recommends all residents above the age of 18 to take ivermectin drug to prevent the steep and sometimes fatal viral fever, which accompanies Covid-19 infection. Ivermectin is a prescription medication used to treat certain parasitic roundworm infections. Speaking to reporters after clearing the new Covid treatment protocol, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said that the drug would be made available at all health centres in the state. He added that all residents, irrespective of whether they have Covid-19 symptoms or not, should take five tablets of ivermectin. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday warned against the use of ivermectin for Covid-19 except within clinical trials.

Waring against the use of the drug in a tweet, the WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan also attached a statement issued by the German health care and life sciences giant Merck on Ivermectin use during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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No data to support efficacy of ivermectin for Covid treatment

In its statement, Merck said that its scientists are carefully examining the findings of all available and emerging studies of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 for evidence of efficacy and safety. However, it noted that, to-date, their analysis has identified "no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies; no meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and; a concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies."

"We do not believe that the data available support the safety and efficacy of ivermectin beyond the doses and populations indicated in the regulatory agency-approved prescribing information," the company added.

In the United States, Ivermectin is approved under the brand name STROMECTOL for the treatment of intestinal (i.e., nondisseminated) strongyloidiasis due to the nematode parasite Strongyloides stercoralis and for the treatment of onchocerciasis due to the nematode parasite Onchocerca volvulus.

Global ivermectin use can end Covid-19 pandemic: It is true?

But some experts have touted ivermectin as a miracle cure for Covid-19. For example, a peer-reviewed research published in the American Journal of Therapeutics last week had claimed that global ivermectin use can end Covid-19 pandemic. The authors, including three US government senior scientists, claimed the common anti-parasitic drug can significantly reduce the risk of contracting the Covid-19 when used regularly. But premiere health agencies do not support this claim.

This is not the first time the WHO has warned against the use of ivermectin in Covid patients. In March, the global health agency had issued a similar warning, stating that there was very low evidence on ivermectin's effects on mortality, hospital admission and getting rid of the coronavirus from the body.

Last year, the FDA had recommended against the use of ivermectin in treating Covid patients. In India, the union health ministry had also reportedly opted out from including Ivermectin in its official Clinical Management Protocol for Covid-19.

With inputs from IANS