PARLIAMENT | The findings of a study to assess the efficacy of ivermectin in preventing severe Covid-19 disease are expected to be presented to Health Ministry stakeholders next month.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the clinical trial, which will involve 500 patients, is dubbed "Ivermectin Treatment Efficacy in Covid-19 High-Risk Patients", or I-Tech.
"The I-Tech study will continue until 500 subjects are recruited by the end of September.
"After that, the findings of the study are expected to be presented to the Health Ministry's stakeholders in October," he said.
Khairy (above) was speaking in a parliamentary reply to Oscar Ling Chai Yew (Harapan-Sibu) yesterday.
Ling had asked the minister to provide details on the preliminary findings of the ivermectin study.
"As of August, more than 350 Covid-19 patients have been involved in the I-Tech Study.
"The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ivermectin in preventing patients from slipping into Categories 4 and 5," Khairy said.
He explained that based on the study's protocol, an interim analysis in terms of safety had been implemented after 30 percent of the patients had been recruited.
Until now, the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has decided that there have been no significant side effects reported.
"Subsequently, an efficiency analysis will be conducted upon recruiting 50 percent of the patients. The DSMB has recommended that the study be continued until it is completed," Khairy added.
Controversial antiparasitic drug
In May, the Health Ministry announced plans to carry out randomised clinical trials to see if ivermectin can be used to treat Covid-19, following claims of its use as a preventive drug for the disease.
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug mostly used in veterinary medicine, especially in treating worm infestations.
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 and RM50,000.
Previous studies on ivermectin were inconclusive and yielded mixed results.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also warned that some side effects that may be associated with ivermectin include skin rash, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain, facial or limb swelling, adverse neurological events including dizziness, seizures and confusion, a sudden drop in blood pressure, severe skin rash potentially requiring hospitalisation and liver injury. - Mkini
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