IVERMECTIN | Philippines allows Ivermectin sale for humans to treat parasitic infection, not COVID-19

May 7, 2021 , 07:25 PM

(May 7, 2021) – The Philippines’ drug regulatory agency has finally allowed Ivermectin to be used for humans but not to treat coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a health official said on Friday, stressing it would be only used to counter parasitic infections.

Undersecretary Eric Domingo said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lloyd Laboratories’ certificate of product registration after reviewing the company’s data on Ivermectin. It can now be manufactured, distributed and sold commercially in the market as a drug for parasitic infections.

Ivermectin is registered an “anti-nematodal agent,” which means it targets parasitic roundworms, not COVID-19. But patients would need a doctor’s prescription before taking the drug, Domingo said.

Some people consider Ivermectin “a wonder drug” after anecdotes surfaced claiming the drug can be used to treat or prevent COVID-19 infection. No scientific study can back the safety and efficacy of the drug after clinical trials were conducted abroad.

Two lawmakers, Rodante Marcoleta and Michael Defensor, had provided free Ivermectin tablets to some Quezon City residents in a program despite lack of evidence it can work. It was a violation of the FDA Act of 2009, according to the justice secretary, but no complaint against the two had been filed.

Medical groups howled in protest over the lawmakers’ project which they called an irresponsible means of dispensing the drug.

Health experts believed the project endangered the lives of those who received Ivermectin.

It also earned the public’s ire when the four physicians who attended the event only used blank sheets of paper to prescribe the drug while providing insufficient details about both the doctor and the patient.

But Domingo said the FDA can only impose sanctions against the doctors, who may have committed lapses in prescribing the drug. The FDA refused to touch the lawmakers.

Six hospitals had earlier been granted compassionate special permit to use Ivermectin against COVID-19, but it was not tantamount to saying the drug was effective to treat the contagious disease. Domingo said doctors and hospitals that dispensed the drug should be liable in case adverse effects happen to their patients.

While Ivermectin was not registered as a COVID-19 treatment, some lawmakers who insisted on its safety and efficacy proudly welcomed the registration of the product.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who also took Ivermectin before, said this move was “very good.”

Another Ivermectin supporter, Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Congresswoman Bernadette Herrera-Dy called this a “groundbreaking development” while thanking Domingo for “being open to our suggestions.”

“It is common knowledge that the unmonitored distribution and use of Ivermectin created an entire gray-market, which subsequently led to questionable and dangerous products,” Herrera-Dy said. “With a reputable company now holding an official CPR, the public is now assured of the quality and legality of their doctor-prescribed Ivermectin dosages.”

(Beatrice Puente/MM)

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