Senate might look into ivermectin issue – Sotto
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 6) Amid conflicting claims on the use of anti-parasitic drug ivermectin in treating COVID-19, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said he might push for a legislative inquiry to settle the issue.
In a media briefing on Thursday, Sotto said even doctors are divided on the veterinary drug, which has not been registered with the country’s Food and Drug Administration for human use.
The FDA gave six hospitals compassionate special permits to administer ivermectin to COVID-19 patients. Health experts, including from the World Health Organization, say the drug should only be used in clinical trials pending evidence it can treat or prevent COVID-19.
(AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
In a joint statement Wednesday night, May 6, HPAAC said claims by supporters that Ivermectin is effective and safe from side effects remain based on “low quality evidence.”
Citing a report by the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID), HPAAC reiterated that “there is no strong, conclusive evidence to recommend Ivermectin” to COVID-19 patients.
In April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted special permits to six hospitals to use the anti-parasitic drug on COVID-19 patients.
However, according to HPAAC, the permit “does not include the distribution of said medication outside of these hospitals.”
This after Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta distributed Ivermectin capsules to residents of Quezon City last week.
Published May 6, 2021, 8:22 PM
Deputy Speaker and 1Sagip Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta has asked the Department of Health and other health professionals to explain their preference in prescribing Remdesivir notwithstanding the World Health Organization’s advisory against its use for people battling the deadly novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Marcoleta said officials of the DOH and the Food and Drug Administration should also make public disclosure of their links with the so-called Big Pharma, stressing that they should be forthright in telling the public which companies financed research grants, trips and funding of projects they initiated.
The House official aired the challenge as he chided the DOH for failing to heed the WHO advice against the use of Remdisivir, supposedly a COVID-19 treatment. He described it as a “highly priced drug’ that cost between P16,000 to P48,000 per shot.”
Ivermectin pills (Photo courtesy of IndiaMart via PNA)
FDA Director-General Rolando Enrique Domingo said that it would be best to wait for the result of the different studies being conducted by health experts on Ivermectin before making a conclusion.
“We recognized that it is a drug under investigation for treatment of COVID-19 but we still do not have any solid evidence yet. Right now, the scientific evidence is not sufficient for us to be able to say that it really works against COVID-19, so we cannot recommend it for routine use and treatment of patients who have COVID-19,” said Domingo in an online forum on Wednesday, May 5.
(ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)
In an interview over DZBB, Dr. Maricar Limpin, Vice President of PCP, batted for contact tracing and mass testing as long-term solutions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
While Limpin agrees that MECQ is helping reduce “the very rapid” transmission of the virus in Metro Manila, it is still not enough.
“Ang community quarantine ay isang paraan kung saan makakatulong ma-contain natin yung pagdami ng kaso. So definitely makakatulong ito para ma-maintain natin sa MECQ yung NCR [National Capital Region] para mas lalo pa nating mapababa (Community quarantine is a way in which we can help contain the rise in cases. So it will definitely help us to further reduce our cases while NCR is under MECQ),” Limpin said.