House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco urged the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “promptly” inform the public of their options in preventing and treating COVID-19 amid the rise in the number of cases.
“With coronavirus cases surging and more people dying, regulators should find it necessary to look into the safety and efficacy of ivermectin and other repurposed drugs for COVID-19,” he added.
Velasco emphasized that a “proactive” regulatory approach during “these desperate times” must be implemented, to which Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Mike Defensor agreed.
“Ang aking pananaw, may sapat naman tayo sa batas kung gugustuhin natin ang paggamit ng ivermectin. Pero ang mas importante, sa aking pananaw, ‘yung pagpapalakas on the research side,” Defensor said.
[In my opinion, we have sufficient laws if we want to allow the use of ivermectin. But what is more important is to strengthen the research side].
Defensor clarified that he is not talking about the ivermectin given to animals.
Meanwhile, the DOH and FDA have initially pointed out that there is still inadequate evidence proving the effectiveness of ivermectin against COVID-19. Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended using the medicine only in clinical trials.
Report from Daniel Manalastas/NGS-jlo
