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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31) – Several lawmakers lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to take the initiative to conduct a clinical study on ivermectin, as regulators maintain that it has not received any requests to approve the drug.
Anakalusugan representative Mike Defensor said Tuesday that the FDA should have more urgency in seeking treatments for COVID-19 as patients continue to die from the disease. He also noted that several people, including himself, took ivermectin and reportedly felt better with it.
“A lot of people like it and instead of you being a hindrance … I hope we can be proactive [There are many who want it and instead of being an obstacle, let us be proactive]”Said Defender at a House Health Committee hearing.” We can do a study using ivermectin. “
His argument was supported by his fellow legislators 1-PACMAN Rep. Enrico Pineda, BH Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, and Ilocos Sur 2nd District Representative Kristine Singson-Meehan, among others.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that is currently not registered with the FDA, except for use in animals. The Health Department has repeatedly warned the public not to take ivermectin as its use is beset by “uncertainties.”
The country representative of the World Health Organization, Rabindra Abeyasinghe, said in the same audience that the study that showed the effects of ivermectin on COVID-19 was carried out in Australia with a concentration one thousand times higher than that used usually in humans. Abeyasinghe said the WHO has since conducted smaller-scale studies on ivermectin, but all gave results that were “statistically insignificant.”
“Let me explain, if you are looking at the total number of COVID patients, many have not yet been infected, so we can assume that people who drank water are protected from COVID,” Abeyasinghe illustrated. “We can assume that people who took ivermectin are protected, but it is not obvious, it must be statistically significant.”
The same results were seen with hydroxychloroquine, Abeyasinghe recalled.
“What we are creating is a false confidence that if they take ivermectin they can protect themselves, and that can be harmful, so a clinical study is required,” said the WHO official. “What we recommend is that we look at carefully planned and controlled clinical trials to have proof that ivermectin works.”
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said they have not yet received any requests for registration, compassionate use, or emergency use of Ivermectin. He said the FDA will process the application quickly once received.
Dr. Allan Landrito, who used to work for the Muntinlupa city government, said that he had given Ivermectin that he composed himself, to thousands of patients, who in turn reportedly did not experience any side effects. Did this without a compounding permit. Landrito, who is also applying to be a pharmaceutical trader for Ivermectin, claimed that the drug is antiparasitic, antiviral, immunomodulatory, and anticancer.
Landrito’s colleague, Dr. Pierre Kory of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, also called Ivermectin a “life-saving drug.” He previously touted the drug in a US Senate committee hearing, but none other than the US FDA warned against using Ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
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