Ivermectin, a controversial anti-parasitic drug commonly used for livestock but looked upon as a potential Covid-19 treatment, should not be taken to treat or prevent Covid-19, the US Food and Drug Administration has said.
In India, sold in blackmarket during the second Covid -19 wave, Ivermectin is now already off the covid treatment list.
The USFDA warning came a day after the Mississippi State Department of Health issued a similar statement in response to reports that an increasing number of people in Mississippi were using the drug to prevent a Covid infection.
Some studies last year spurred use of the drug against Covid-19, especially in Latin America, and Fox News has promoted some of those studies’ findings on air.
But the National Institutes of Health said in February that most of the studies related to Ivermectin and the coronavirus “had incomplete information and significant methodological limitations,” including small sample sizes and study outcome measures that were often unclear.
Ivermectin, which is also formulated for use by people to treat parasitic worms, had been controversially promoted as a potential Covid treatment earlier in the pandemic, but recent studies found that the drug’s efficacy against the coronavirus is thin, and the F.D.A. has not approved the drug for Covid treatment.
In India, there has been mixed response for the usage of the drug. Some state governments like Uttar Pradesh and Goa had during the raging infection wave advocated its use for Covid-19 treatment and as a prophylaxis (preventive medication).
In June, the Union Health Ministry’s directorate general of health services (DGHS) had issued revised guidelines to stop the use of Ivermectin besides Doxycycline in Covid-19 treatment for asymptomatic and mild cases.
It said these drugs have not been found to be effective in treatment of the Covid-19.