Results of ivermectin trials as COVID-19 drug known in January 2022

The results of the Department of Science and Technology's clinical trials for ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 will be known not earlier than January 2022, a department official said on Monday.

Dr. Jaime Montoya, the executive director of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research, said the recruitment of participants and the clinical trials would take five to six months.

These are expected to start by the end of May or first week of June and will take five to six months.

“What we will include in our study are non-severe [COVID-19 cases], symptomatic and symptomatic who are in quarantine. Clinical trials could end by the end of the year, but of course, we need time to look at the data and the results,” Montoya said during the Laging Handa briefing.

“We expect to release results by the first quarter of next year, around January [2022],” he added.

Montoya said that government would have two options in getting ivermectin for the clinical trial.

One will be to get it from a local manufacturer provided that human grade ivermectin will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The other will be to import the anti-parasitic drug from countries where it is allowed to be prescribed on humans.

Montoya, however, said that the timeline could be hastened up if enough participants could be recruited in a shorter period.

“We are looking at those in quarantine facilities of the Philippine Red Cross,” Montoya said.

The FDA is yet to approve human grade ivermectin in the Philippines. Under existing laws, ivermectin can only be prescribed to animals.

The FDA, however, already granted compassionate use permit for the use of ivermectin on humans to at least five hospitals.

An issuance of compassionate use permit, however, is not tantamount to an FDA guarantee of safety and efficacy but only allows legal administration of the drug in the country.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the conduct of the clinical trial of ivermectin in the Philippines amid clamor from his congressional allies and a number of doctors who are not necessarily infectious disease experts.

The Philippine government is eyeing to vaccinate 70% of its 110 million-strong population by the end of the year to achieve herd immunity. —NB, GMA News