By Daniel Manalastas
Even the World Health Organization is not in favor of advocating the use of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
WHO Representative to the Philippines Rabindra Abeyasinghe made this statement yesterday (March 30) at a House health committee hearing on the government’s COVID-19 response, amid several lawmakers pushing to give ivermectin a chance.
“The issue with ivermectin is that based on the initial study and the currently available data, it is not strong enough for us to advocate the use of ivermectin for treatment of COVID or prevention of COVID,” Abeyasinghe said.
The WHO official said they looked at studies from the European Medical Association and United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which all gave the same conclusion.
“What they are recommending is that we look at carefully planned, controlled clinical trials to approve whether ivermectin works. That is the global evidence that we have, not only from WHO but also from very stringent regulatory authorities and medical authorities,” he said.
DOH and FDA warnings
The Department of Health and the Philippine FDA have already issued warnings against using ivermectin for this purpose.
They reiterated at the panel hearing that there is no approved ivermectin for human oral intake, nor is there a pending application for it.
FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said the ivermectin products currently in the Philippines are only for veterinary use purposes or for animal use.
“Ang meron lang pong nakarehistro sa Pilipinas ay mga veterinary products, kaya ang sinasabi namin sa mga tao, mag-iingat po kayo, huwag po kayo iinom ng veterinary products [The only (ivermectin products) registered in the Philippines are veterinary products, so we are telling people, be careful, do not take veterinary products],” Domingo said.
Domingo said they are not against ivermectin per se, and they are open to those applying for its use as long as the applicant has complete requirements for a “compassionate special permit.”
“If a drug is actually being used as a clinical trial drug for the treatment of COVID-19, pwede po ‘yan i-apply ng [it can be applied for under] compassionate use. Meaning, you get a product that is registered, for example, in another country, U.S. – the human preparation po, hindi [not the] veterinary preparation.” Domingo explained.
“Meaning, the doctor takes full responsibility for the drug, and they explained to the patient that this is originally designed as an anti-parasitic, ‘but I have reason to believe we can use it for COVID,’ and then the patient is willing to take it,” he added.
