WHO warns against use of Ivermectin drug to treat COVID-19

NEW DELHI: A day after the Government of Goa allowed use of an orally administered drug called Ivermectin for treating all COVID-19 patients, the World Health Organisation recommended against its usage for treatment of coronavirus infection. Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief scientist at WHO, said that Ivermectin, which is generally used to treat parasitic infection, should not be used except within clinical trials in relation to COVID-19. “Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for any indication”, he added.

Vishwajit P Rane, Health Minister of Goa, said that the state government gave green light to the drug after expert panels from the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Japan found significant reduction in mortality rate and recovery in COVID-19 patients treated with Ivermectin.

Mereck & Co., the manufacturer of the drug, also issued similar warning establishing that its scientists are currently trying to examine findings of all available and emerging studies on usage of ‘Ivermectin’ for treatment of COVID-19. The official statement from the manufacturer also stated that no scientific basis has yet been established for the drug having any potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies. It said that there is no meaningful evidence for the drug resulting in any clinical activity or efficacy in patients suffering from coronavirus infection and that there is considerable lack of safety data in the majority of the studies available on the drug in relation to COVID-19.