[kwlug-disc] Ivermectin

[Ronald Barnes]

Steve Izma wrote on 2022-11-19 19:45:

> How bias-free were your pharmaceutical studies? How much of the 
> information and textbooks were associated with pharmaceutical 
> companies?

If you're alleging that ivermectin was suppressed as an effective
treatment for Covid19 by pharma companies, then I direct you to this
statement by the manufacturers of ivermectin, who could have made a lot
of money from its sales:

> Company scientists continue to carefully examine the findings of all
>  available and emerging studies of ivermectin for the treatment of 
> COVID-19 for evidence of efficacy and safety. It is important to note
> that, to-date, our analysis has identified:
> 
> * No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against 
> COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies;
> 
> * No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy 
> in patients with COVID-19 disease, and;
> 
> * A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies.
> 
> We do not believe that the data available support the safety and 
> efficacy of ivermectin beyond the doses and populations indicated in
>  the regulatory agency-approved prescribing information.

https://www.merck.com/news/merck-statement-on-ivermectin-use-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/


Also, they discontinued their own research into Covid vaccines due to
the poor results in their phase 1 studies:

https://www.merck.com/news/merck-discontinues-development-of-sars-cov-2-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-continues-development-of-two-investigational-therapeutic-candidates/


So, while there are certainly issues with pharmaceutical companies, with
regards to covid19, they seem mostly beyond reproach.




> Gee, that sounds a lot like the current debates about the approval of
> vaccines: they are currently only approved under an emergency-use 
> authorization because the usual safety studies have not been 
> completed.

Interesting that you bring up EUA as a strike against Covid vaccines,
but not HCQ, when HCQ was used as a Covid treatment under an EUA only
from April to June 2020.

> On 24 April 2020, citing the risk of "serious heart rhythm 
> problems", the FDA posted a caution against using the drug for
> COVID-19 "outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial".[62]


> On 15 June 2020, the FDA revoked its emergency use authorization, 
> stating that it was "no longer reasonable to believe" that the drug 
> was effective against COVID-19 or that its benefits outweighed "known
> and potential risks".[65][66][67] In fall of 2020, the National
> Institutes of Health issued treatment guidelines recommending against
> the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 except as part of a
> clinical trial.[50]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine#COVID-19