Europe advises against ivermectin treatment applied in several provinces of Argentina

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) not recommended to use the antiparasitic ivermectin in the prevention or treatment of coronavirus. This medicine It is already used in several provinces of Argentina, despite the fact that the Angat did not allow it.

The EMA “concluded that the available data does not support its use for Covid-19 outside of clinical trials, ”the Amsterdam-based agency said in a statement on Monday.

Further studies “are needed to draw conclusions on the efficacy and safety of the product in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19,” added the EMA.

The use of this drug as a treatment for Covid-19 is not authorized in the European Union, and the EMA has received “no requests for such use,” the European regulator said.

Ivermectin is a broad spectrum antiparasitic agent in human and veterinary medicine. In in vitro tests, it has shown its potential as an inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It became important when certain clinical studies showed a significant reduction in the risk of contagion and the mortality of the positives.

In Argentina

The controversy remains open in the scientific community on the therapeutic use of ivermectin in the prevention and treatment of the coronavirus. Although the National Food, Drugs and Medical Technologies Administration (ANMAT) has not yet approved it and various infectologists have opposed its use, several provinces have decided to try it.

In Misiones, the Ministry of Public Health authorized the use of ivermectin in patients with Covid-19 admitted to public hospitals in January. The published protocol specifies that they will receive a dose of 0.6 mg per kilo per day, for five days.

In mid-March, the provincial health portfolio reported the delivery of the second shipment of the drug (around 50 thousand treatments) at different hospitals.

Tucumán also applies ivermectin. They started using it in October, in so-called “off-label” studies, in which a drug authorized for something else is used for a single purpose. They began to give it as part of a protocol, to volunteers.

On Monday, for example, health authorities reported administering the drug to a group of young people, of three contingents, in which 45 positive cases were detected.

At the end of January, La Pampa joined. The province uses ivermectin to treat a positive Covid, in case of early diagnosis. At the end of February, he reported the purchase of over 7,000 treatments.

Corrientes, Salta and Jujuy have also done tests with this antiparasitic in patients with Covid-19.

Like the EMA, the Argentine Society of Infectology – of which several members advise the national government – had previously issued a rejection of the use of ivermectin.

“So far, the ongoing scientific evidence evaluating the use of ivermectin alone or in combination with other drugs for the prevention and / or treatment of SARS-Cov2 infection is of very low quality. and no clear clinical efficacy data has been reported, ”the entity said.

A study in Argentina

A study by Argentinian doctors Héctor Carvallo and Roberto Hirsch concluded that the drug is an effective adjuvant method for personal protective equipment in the prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 among health personnel and their contacts. Therefore, they recommend implementing it in vulnerable population groups: geriatric and psychiatric institutes, orphanages and prisons, among others.

“It’s not an experimental treatment. Even in the United States, there is a Senate presentation asking for authorization of ivermectin, ”he told Hirsch.

There are already more than 10,000 patients treated, monitored and reviewed with this drug. In an interview published in Clarín, experts detailed that a meta-analysis that recorded 25 trials in different countries around the world – in total, it included 2,045 prophylactic participants and 1,835 Covid-positive – showed a decrease in the rate of mortality of about 65%. (in severe and late) and 92% (in early use of the drug), depending on the time and stage of the disease in the patients treated.

DD