The South African public should be patient and wait for data on Ivermectin’s effectiveness against COVID, according to Stellenbosch doctors, who urge patience. The doctors wrote an article published in the South African Medical Journal explaining that further studies need to be completed before ivermectin can be authorised for use.
A veterinarian parasiticide that may have relevant antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, ivermectin has gathered considerable attention for possible use in COVID prophylaxis and treatment since a number of small trials appeared to show effectiveness. However, close examination shows that they are very weak. Doubts have been raised over whether the necessary concentrations used in vitro can be achieved in vivo.
In their article, the doctors noted that several large randomised controlled trials are underway, and the results of these will allow the possible effectiveness of ivermectin to be gauged. “Data for Ivermectin from larger RCTs are expected in early 2021,” the doctors wrote. “These data are very promising, showing large treatment effects and acceptable adverse effect profiles for ivermectin against Covid-19, especially when combined in meta-analyses.”
They pointed out that the hoped-for effectiveness of other medications had not been borne out. “As a recent example, the widely proclaimed benefits of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine from observational studies proved to be unfounded in larger RCTs,” they wrote.
Ivermectin use has been banned by the government, to considerable resistance. A number of organisations have already demanded that ivermectin be administered as a COVID treatment, including Black First Land First, the New Economic Rights Alliance and AfriForum. Afriforum is contemplating legal action to have ivermectin authorised. These calls have come despite the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) repeatedly counselled against the use of ivermectin.
The doctors cautioned that although the data trends indicated a possible efficacy for ivermectin, the optimal dosage if effective still needed to be determined: “Higher than standard Ivermectin doses appear to be safe in humans, but at the time of writing there is still much uncertainty regarding the human dose required to achieve antiviral activity and a favourable benefit-to-risk balance.”
Source: IOL
