[UPDATED] Health DG says ivermectin doesn’t reduce risks of illness from Covid-19

KUALA LUMPUR – Ivermectin cannot be recommended in Covid-19 treatment guidelines as the medication does not reduce risks of severe illness from the coronavirus, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

In a statement, he said this was based on the outcomes of the Health Ministry’s ivermectin study (I-Tech) along with the Institute for Clinical Research, on 500 hospitalised patients with Stage 2 or 3 Covid-19.

He said the ministry only continued to use ivermectin alongside prior advice that it was for clinical trial settings with monitoring.

“This is also supported by other large studies – such as Ivercor-Covid19 from Argentina and Together from Brazil that do not support the routine usage of ivermectin in clinical practice.”

He said the I-Tech team plans to submit the data for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

The move, he said, can help provide additional research information for ivermectin studies, including meta-analysis.

“It is hoped that the findings of this social study can help to inform medical practitioners in Malaysia, and also the public – who often ask about the effectiveness of ivermectin in the clinical practice of Covid-19 treatment.

“Until further supportive evidence becomes available, practitioners are cautioned not to recommend ivermectin, including sharing illegal advertising or sales of ivermectin for treatment of Covid-19.”

On the clinical trial, Dr Noor Hisham said it involved a randomised evaluation of a five-day course of those who received 0.4mgs per kg a day with standard care (IVM group), along with those who only received standard care (SOC group).

The standard care for both groups were also provided in accordance with the ministry’s guidelines for Covid-19 patients at 20 government hospitals, and the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang 2.0 Quarantine and Covid-19 Treatment Centre.

He said the main outcome of the study was to determine whether ivermectin prevented deterioration to Stage 4 or 5 Covid-19 among hospitalised patients aged 50 and above who had at least one comorbidity.

Overall, Dr Noor Hisham said findings showed that both the IVM and SOC groups had similar rates of progression to severe Covid-19 disease at 21.2% and 17.3%, respectively.

The time for the progression to severe disease was three days for the IVM group, compared to 2.9 days for the SOC group – which is fairly insignificant, he said.

He added that the ministry had initiated the study, which obtained approval from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee on May 25.

Dr Noor Hisham said the trial was also registered in ClinicalTrials.gov on May 31, in order to disclose public key information about the I-Tech study.

Of 500 subjects, four were excluded for not meeting the study criteria and six withdrew after expressing concerns on the side effects.

“Additionally, safety analysis showed three times more adverse events that were reported in the IWM group versus the SOC group – most commonly, diarrhoea.” – The Vibes, November 3, 2021