The Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS) and the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) have called for an end to the illegal sales of ivermectin.
The groups expressed concern that many Malaysians are illegally sourcing the drugs after hearing of its supposed efficacy against Covid-19.
The matter is made worse when some Members of Parliament and the Consumer Association of Penang touted the drug for preventing the disease, despite the questionable quality of the evidence backing such claims.
“Since the start of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, both observational and randomised studies have evaluated ivermectin as a treatment for, and as prophylaxis against, Covid-19 infection.
“However, there is low-certainty evidence that ivermectin prophylaxis reduced Covid-19. It is imperative that the public understands that uncontrolled usage of ivermectin can cause side effects that may be damaging.
“The MPS and MMA calls for such illegal activities to cease as it may have detrimental effects on community healthcare.
“We encourage Malaysians to trust the Covid-19 vaccines which have already shown its effect in reducing the infection rate and mortality, such as the case for the Federal Territory of Labuan recently,” they said in a joint statement today.
The statement was signed by MMA president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy (above) and MPS president Amrahi Buang.
They also warned that ivermectin has not been registered for the prevention or treatment of Covid-19, and can only be used in clinical trials that are now taking place in 12 hospitals in Malaysia.
Anyone caught selling the anti-parasitic drug as treatment and prevention of Covid-19 can be fined between RM25,000 to RM50,000.
The clinical trial results are expected to be ready in September.
The trial will involve 500 high-risk Covid-19 patients who are still in the initial phases of infection, to see if fewer patients would progress to severe disease or die compared to those who only received standard hospital care.
Previous studies on ivermectin were inconclusive and yielded mixed results. A systematic review published in the British Medical Journal analysing all available data up to March 1 found the evidence for ivermectin’s benefits to be of “very low certainty” due to the methodological flaws and small sizes of the studies involved.
A more recent systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration which analysed all available data up to May 26 came to the same conclusion and said ivermectin should not be used to treat or prevent Covid-19 except in well-designed clinical trials.
Meanwhile, on July 14, a pre-print manuscript regarding a supposed ivermectin study has been withdrawn due to “ethical concerns”.
The study was led by Dr Ahmed Elgazzar from Benha University in Egypt and was uploaded to the website Research Square in November last year.
It claimed to have found Covid-19 patients who received ivermectin early in their infection made “substantial recovery” and was one of the largest and most promising studies supporting the use of ivermectin against the disease.
However, according to a report by UK media organisation The Guardian, a medical student sighted multiple errors and discrepancies in the paper, which led other experts to pick apart the study and raise concerns of scientific fraud. - Mkini
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