What is Ivermectin
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication approved by the FDA for use in animals to treat topical diseases such as onchocerciasis, strongyloidiasis and helminthiases. It is, however, not approved by the FDA to use this drug to treat Covid-19. It has also not been clinically proven to be effective against Covid-19. The potential of this drug is currently being tested and used in clinical trials to treat Covid-19 patients.
Malaysian Trials
The Ministry of Health Malaysia and the Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) has begun trials on high risk patients on the 31st May 2021. The clinical trial will be headed by Infectious Disease (ID) Physician at Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh followed by a team of specialists and Clinical Research Centres (CRC) at 12 Ministry Hospitals. The study will include 500 high risk patients over the age of 50 with moderate symptoms (in categories 2 and 3). The aim of this study is to observe the effectiveness of the drug in inhibiting the progression of Covid-19 to severe cases (Category 4 and 5) and death. This trial is crucial as there is a lack of treatment solutions to prevent patients in the mild or moderate category from progressing into being in the severe category.
Furthermore, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reported that the WHO Covid-19 Solidarity Trial for Covid-19 Treatments (Solidarity) found that Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine, Interferon and Lopinavir had little or no effect on overall mortality, initiation of ventilation and duration of hospital stay in hospitalized patients. So far, the Randomised Evaluation of Covid-19 Therapy (Recovery) trial has only proven that use of corticosteroids such as dexamethasone improved mortality outcomes in severe cases where ventilation is required.
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