Advocating the use of anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin for the treatment of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) could result in a false sense of confidence among the people, and might be harmful for those who would take it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
WHO representative to the Philippines and doctor Rabindra Abeyasinghe issued the warning on Tuesday, March 30, as some members of the House of Representatives insisted on the use of Ivermectin as a COVID-19 medicine.
"We do recognize the urgency...but the mere fact that the use of prescribed Ivermectin will not defintely mean that we are either protecting people or making their COVID-19 symptoms less if they are already infected," Abeyasinghe said during the House Committee on Health's hearing on the country's COVID-19 situation.
"What we are actually creating is a false confidence to people that if they take Ivermectin they are going to be protected. And that could actually be harmful," he stressed.
During the hearing, the WHO official said no significant data yet has proved that the Ivermectin can be used for human consumption or for use of COVID-19 patients. At present, he said it is widely used in veterinary medicine and is often highly concentrated and can be toxic to humans.
"We've had very small-scale study...using Ivermectin recommending for human consumption in a number of country. In all of these countries, results of the Ivermectin trial were statistically not significant," he said.
"Let me explain: If you are looking at the total number of patients in the world today, many people have yet not got infected. So we could assume that people who drink water are protected from COVID. We could assume that people who took Ivermectin are protected, but that's not evident. It needs need to be statistically significant," he pointed out.
Initial studies, Abeyasinghe said, are "not strong enough for us to advocate the use of Ivermectin for treatment of COVID-19 or prevention of COVID."
The recommendation against the use of Ivermectin was also supported by the European Medical Association and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he added.
For this reason, Abeyasinghe stressed the need for "carefully-planned" clinical trials to prove the Ivermectin's efficacy in treating or preventing coronavirus infections.
"If we can see that evidence, then we'll be in a better position to decide on Ivermectin," he said.
The Philippines' FDA has yet to receive any application for the emergency use, compassionate use, or grant of certificate of product registration of Ivermectin for use of humans.
Only veterinary Ivermectin products are registered with the FDA, director-general Eric Domingo said.
"Hindi po kami (We are not) anti-Ivermectin, we have not pre-judged it. We're just saying na hindi po kasi pwedeng magbenta ng unregistered product that people cannot sell unregistered products)...Kailangan po registered, bawal po kasi sa batas (They should be registered, since the law provided the prohibition on unregistered products)," Domingo clarified.
So far, one doctor pushing for the use of Ivermectin has applied for a license to operate as a trader of Ivermectin drug, as a prerequisite for the FDA's grant of a certificate of product registration.