BULLSH!T story you posted from WaPo.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-iverme ... 1627482393
behind paywall...
The Food and Drug Administration claims to follow the science. So why is it attacking
ivermectin, a medication it certified in 1996?
Earlier this year the agency put out a special warning that “you should not use ivermectin
to treat or prevent COVID-19.” The FDA’s statement included words and phrases such as
“serious harm,” “hospitalized,” “dangerous,” “very dangerous,” “seizures,” “coma and
even death” and “highly toxic.” Any reader would think the FDA was warning against
poison pills. In fact, the drug is FDA-approved as a safe and effective antiparasitic.
Ivermectin was developed and marketed by Merck & Co. while one of us (Mr. Hooper)
worked there years ago. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura won the 2015 Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine for discovering and developing avermectin, which Mr.
Campbell and associates modified to create ivermectin.
Ivermectin is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. Merck has
donated four billion doses to prevent river blindness and other diseases in Africa and
other places where parasites are common. A group of 10 doctors who call themselves the
Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance have said ivermectin is “one of the safest, lowcost, and widely available drugs in the history of medicine.”
Ivermectin fights 21 viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19. A single dose
OPINION | COMMENTARY
Why Is the FDA Attacking a Safe, Effective
Drug?
Ivermectin is a promising Covid treatment and prophylaxis, but the agency is denigrating it.
By David R. Henderson and Charles L. Hooper
July 28, 2021 12:34 pm ET
Ivermectin in Buenos Aires, Jan. 26.
PHOTO: ROBERTO ALMEIDA AVELEDO/ZUMA PRESS
reduced the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in cells by 99.8% in 24 hours and 99.98% in 48 hours,
according to a June 2020 study published in the journal Antiviral Research.
Some 70 clinical trials are evaluating the use of ivermectin for treating Covid-19. The
statistically significant evidence suggests that it is safe and works for both treating and
preventing the disease.
In 115 patients with Covid-19 who received a single dose of ivermectin, none developed
pneumonia or cardiovascular complications, while 11.4% of those in the control group did.
Fewer ivermectin patients developed respiratory distress (2.6% vs. 15.8%); fewer required
oxygen (9.6% vs. 45.9%); fewer required antibiotics (15.7% vs. 60.2%); and fewer entered
intensive care (0.1% vs. 8.3%). Ivermectin-treated patients tested negative faster, in four
days instead of 15, and stayed in the hospital nine days on average instead of 15.
Ivermectin patients experienced 13.3% mortality compared with 24.5% in the control
group.
Moreover, the drug can help prevent Covid-19. One 2020 article in Biochemical and
Biophysical Research Communications looked at what happened after the drug was given
to family members of confirmed Covid-19 patients. Less than 8% became infected, versus
58.4% of those untreated. Among 200 healthcare workers and others at high risk of
exposure, only 2% of those given ivermectin developed Covid-19. But 10% of the control
group did.
Despite the FDA’s claims, ivermectin is safe at approved doses. Out of four billion doses
administered since 1998, there have been only 28 cases of serious neurological adverse
events, according to an article published this year in the American Journal of
Therapeutics. The same study found that ivermectin has been used safely in pregnant
women, children and infants.
If the FDA were driven by science and evidence, it would give an emergency-use
authorization for ivermectin for Covid-19. Instead, the FDA asserts without evidence that
ivermectin is dangerous.
At the bottom of the FDA’s warning against ivermectin is this statement: “Meanwhile,
effective ways to limit the spread of COVID-19 continue to be to wear your mask, stay at
least 6 feet from others who don’t live with you, wash hands frequently, and avoid
crowds.” Is this based on the kinds of double-blind studies that the FDA requires for drug
approvals? No.
Mr. Henderson, a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was
senior health economist with President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. Mr.
Hooper is president of Objective Insights, a firm that consults with pharmaceutical clients.
Appeared in the, print edition
U.S. signs $1.2 bln deal for 1.7 mln courses of Merck's experimental COVID-19 drug
https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-06-09/
but Merck already has an oral anti-viral pill, has had for decades called Ivermectin...why all the add'l spending for such an expensive new drug?
