By NG Seruela
The Department of Science and Technology- Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) said on Friday (April 9) that there is “no need” to conduct a clinical trial for ivermectin in the country.
In the statement issued by the department, it pointed out that clinical trial projects require a minimum of six months and can extend to years. It continued that based on the report of the clinicaltrials.gov, there are almost 20 completed clinical trials on ivermectin worldwide while 40 are still ongoing.
“As most ongoing clinical trials have already been implemented since 2020, it would be appropriate to await the results of these studies that are already significantly advanced in terms of data collection and conducting interim analyses,” it added.
DOST Secretary Fortunato dela Peña further explained in today’s Laging Handa public briefing that the results of the finished clinical trials differ from one another. Due to this, he stated that according to the Department of Health (DOH), there are no clear results to refer to that support using ivermectin against COVID-19.
However, he said that if the department is ordered to conduct a trial on the drug, they will comply with the directive.
