Covid
WHO warns against use of Ivermectin for Covid-19 treatment
On Tuesday, the World Health Organisation recommended against the general use of ‘ivermectin’ – an orally-administered drug used to treat parasitic infections – for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the global health body’s chief scientist, tweeted, “Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. WHO recommends against use of ‘ivermectin’ for COVID-19 except within clinical trials.”
The doctor attached a similar warning that has been issued by German healthcare and life sciences giant Merck.
Merck said its scientists continue to “carefully examine findings of all available and emerging studies of ‘ivermectin’ for treatment of COVID-19”.
“…to-date, our 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 efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and; A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies,” it said.