Expert urges gov’t to subsidize antiviral drugs in hospitals

Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante on Wednesday asked the government to subsidize the antiviral drugs for COVID-19 in hospitals to make it more accessible for the less privileged.

Solante said that since antiviral drugs like remdesivir are only given to patients in public hospitals for free, he suggested to the government to also subsidize this for all hospitals or the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to include this in their home package.

“This accessibility should also include a subsidy from the government that it should be free for those who really cannot afford this drug,” he said in an ANC interview.

Solante said that the subsidy and accessibility for antiviral drugs should start in the hospitals as patients could be monitored there compared to drugstores.

“If it’s available in the hospitals, it will be prescribed by a doctor, the doctor can fully assess you and fully monitor you. At the same time, when you are given the drug, you will have the freehand to connect with a doctor in that hospital,” he added.

Further, Solante noted that he does not advise healthy and young people to take the anti-COVID-19 drug molnupiravir so as to protect the vulnerable population first.

“Looking at our admissions in the hospitals, most of them are the elderly and we don’t have people less than 50 years old, healthy people having symptoms unlike the Delta surge,” he said.

Molnupiravir is the first oral antiviral drug shown to prevent mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 from progressing into severe disease that needs hospitalization.

Last year, the Philippine Food and Drug Administration granted molnupiravir’s emergency use authorization under the brand name Molnarz.

Solante also noted that molnupiravir has less drug-to-drug interaction than other antivirals, so people do not need to worry about mixing it with other drugs.

“If you have kidney or liver problems, then this drug is also safe for this population. Except in those less than 18 years old, you cannot take this one, because it can affect the bone. Those who are pregnant and planning to get pregnant, if you are taking this then you have to abstain from getting pregnant,” he said.

Ivermectin

Moreover, Solante stressed that health experts in the country only follow guidelines from reputable institutions such as Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) when it comes to the use of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.

“We had a meeting two weeks ago and it seemed that ivermectin hasn’t really reached that point of an evidence that it is in the level with remdesivir or with molnupiravir,” he said.

He made the remark in response to the Covid Prevention Protocol released by the World Council for Health on September 23, 2021 which included ivermectin as an antiviral treatment that could be used at home.

“The current landscape now is that we’re not telling you not to take it but if you believe it’s safe for you then it’s up to you,” he added.

Solante however warned that there might be side effects for using ivermectin.

The Philippines' FDA earlier stated ivermectin products registered in the country for human use are in topical formulations and for treatment of external parasites such as head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea. It added that ivermectin is not approved for treatment of any viral infection.

Ivermectin maker Merck had also already stated that there is “no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect [from ivermectin] against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies."

Merck also said there was "no meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 and a concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies."

The Department of Health in April 2021 also said a reevaluation of newer evidence on ivermectin showed that it is still not recommended as a COVID-19 treatment.—AOL, GMA News