KUALA LUMPUR – Come the end of October, the Health Ministry will reveal findings of its Ivermectin Treatment Effectiveness test on high-risk Covid-19 patients (I-Tech study).
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin assured in a recent tweet that the debate on ivermectin would be resolved soon.
“The great debate on #ivermectin will be settled soon. We did a local study on ivermectin and the results are in,” Khairy tweeted.
The great debate locally on #Ivermectin will be settled soon. We did a local study on Ivermectin and the results are in. @drkalai61 will be presenting this publicly next week. https://t.co/2CEWPjKhVw
— Khairy Jamaluddin ??? (@Khairykj) October 29, 2021
However, a statement by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said that the results may be underwhelming.
“So far, the findings to prove ivermectin can treat or prevent Covid-19 infection are limited,” Dr Noor Azmi told the Dewan Negara on Tuesday.
Dr Noor Azmi said that the I-Tech trial involved 500 patients with comorbidities aged 50 years and above, positive with categories 2 and 3.
He also said that according to the Cochrane Library, scientific evidence does not support the use of ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19 infections.
“It is based on a systematic analysis of 14 clinical studies involving 1,678 participants. The Cochrane Library summarises the need for better quality research data to be published for analysis.
“There were recent large-scale clinical studies involving Covid-19 patients who were not hospitalised and displayed mild symptoms involved in the Ivermectin to Prevent Hospitalisations in Patients with Covid-19 trials in Argentina, and a joint trial in Brazil that found the drug ineffective in preventing hospitalisation,” he said as reported by the New Straits Times.
As for the unauthorised use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19, Dr Noor Azmi assured that the Health Ministry has been monitoring and enforcing to ensure medicines marketed in Malaysia are registered with the Drug Control Authority.
He said that registered medicines and health products would have MAL registration numbers as well as hologram security stickers on the labels.
Dr Noor Azmi also warned that companies or individuals selling unregistered medicines can face legal action under the Sale of Drugs Act 1952.
So far 43 premises were raided while 17 inspections were conducted, resulting in the seizure of RM124,815 worth of goods, according to Dr Noor Azmi. – The Vibes, October 29, 2021
