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Pharma Tech Outlook | Monday, December 13, 2021
The data on the drug's treatment effectiveness for treating Covid-19 has been called into question after numerous trials were suspected of being fraudulent and skewing the metadata analysis performed. As a result, the FDA did not approve ivermectin as a therapy for Covid-19.
FREMONT, CA: The new drug ivermectin that is used to treat Covid-19 has received considerable attention from the media as it is touted to be an inexpensive and readily available drug for treating Covid-19. Currently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved ivermectin for the treatment of some parasitic worms (strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis) in humans. Along with that, this drug will also be used for the treatment of certain internal and external parasites in various animal species.
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After several studies suspected of being fraudulent and skewing the metadata analyses performed and with at least one publication retracted, the data for the drug's therapeutic effectiveness for treating Covid-19 has been questioned. Hence, the FDA did not approve the use of ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19. Further Merck, this drug's manufacturer, released a statement that there are no data confirming ivermectin’s clinical activity or clinical efficacy for Covid-19 patients. Also he mentioned that the lack of safety data was noticed in most of the studies. Clinical trial data for the drug showed mixed results, although the majority of the trials resulted in failure to achieve clinical endpoints. In the largest study, no statistically significant changes were observed in the ivermectin component of a clinical trial comprising 4,257 recruited patients for the prevention of Covid-19 when compared to the oral zinc/vitamin C combination. The second-largest clinical trial which enrolled 501 subjects found no statistically significant differences in the safety outcomes for ivermectin either when compared to the placebo control group. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), preventative use of the drug to treat Covid-19 has arisen in numerous Latin American countries, including Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala, and US.
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