The Principle trial at the University of Oxford has selected Ivermectin for inclusion in its study of repurposed drugs for treatment of COVID-19. It will be given to people with Covid symptoms to see if it can keep them out of hospital. The BBC has the story.
The Principle study will compare those given the drug to patients receiving the usual NHS care.
The drug has become controversial after being promoted for use across Latin America and in South Africa, despite being so far unproven.
Previous studies of Ivermectin have generally been small or low quality.
Most commonly used to treat parasitic infections such as river blindness, spread by flies, Ivermectin has also been shown to kill viruses in petri dishes in the lab – although, at much higher doses than would usually be prescribed to people.
Ivermectin has been championed by many doctors and scientists since its apparent effectiveness as a Covid treatment emerged early in April 2020, but has been snubbed by mainstream health bodies for reasons that are unclear, leading some to suspect ulterior motives such as sustaining a vaccine narrative or prioritising newer and more profitable treatments. Merck, which manufactures Ivermectin but also recently signed a $356 million deal to supply the US with a much more expensive, experimental anti-Covid drug, went so far as to issue a statement casting doubt on the drug’s safety, even though its safety profile is well known and mild. Scientists trying to publish studies on the drug found the door being shut in their faces with apparent political motives for the refusal. Finally in May, the American Journal of Therapeutics published a peer-reviewed article by Dr Pierre Kory and colleagues entitled “Review of the Emerging Evidence Demonstrating the Efficacy of Ivermectin in the Prophylaxis and Treatment of COVID-19“. Dr Tess Lawrie and colleagues’ meta-analysis, finding a 62% reduction in risk of death among those infected or at high risk of Covid infection (on moderate-certainty evidence), was published in the same journal last week.
While, in a pandemic, the precautionary principle would seem to recommend authorising the use of safe, repurposed drugs that (small) trials have shown appear to work, health authorities apparently did not agree and said there must be higher quality evidence for Ivermectin before it can be approved. Yet because there is little profit in a cheap, out-of-patent drug these higher quality trials have not been done, leaving the drug still without approval or definitive evaluation over 14 months after its apparent efficacy against COVID-19 was discovered. If it does turn out to be as highly effective as the early studies suggest, this will mean the delay will have been responsible for failing to prevent many thousands of deaths around the world.
Still, better late than never, and credit to Oxford for including it in its study despite the politics around it. The Principle trial should provide the definitive answer as to whether Ivermectin is effective at preventing the progression to serious coronavirus disease when used at an early stage.
People aged 18-64 with an underlying health condition or experiencing breathlessness, and anyone aged 65 or over, can sign up to the Principle trial within 14 days of having Covid symptoms or receiving a positive test.
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I’ve never understood why the authorities didn’t just leave them for a few days when they glued themselves to roads, pavements and museum and art gallery walls. Sat there in a stinking pool of their own piss would have been quite entertaining.
It would have been even better to provide them with glues that don’t dissolve in water or solvent, then they would have needed pneumatic drills to remove the road surface and it would have remained attached for weeks until new skin grew beneath it.
I like your thinking.
Something similar happened in Germany in some car showroom, they glued themselves in there and the staff just left for the weekend.
Hahahaha!
Brilliant!
Because they were just the provisional wing of the Net Zero objective and “the authorities” supported their policy. Rather like political Sinn Fein supported the Provisional IRA.
Or just rip the bar stewards off leaving their skin behind.
So there we have it – Energy Insecurity Kommissar (and fruitcake of Marxist loins) Miliband cares more about pandering to Just Stop Oil fruitcakes, than about granting North Sea exploration licenses to help sustain future continuity of gas and electricity supply to every household and business in the country.
State-sponsored energy-crime against the humanity of the British people.
The Kommissar Must Fall.
But of course you know the real reason they’re “abandoning” their protests, don’t you?
The Upper Middle Class Lefty Liberal Green Eco-Women got a taste of prison, and found they didn’t like mingling with the lower classes. They’re fine with that for Tommy Robinson types, dahling, but not for themselves.
You do realise Cressida Gethin is going to miss her brother’s wedding? That’s dedication for you. I’ll bet Cambridge U holds a place open for her though.
Poor lamb.
Spot on.
Yes …. the oh so brave Eco Warriors didn’t expect to actually be sent to prison for more than a token day or so.
“ JSO boasted that by changing Government policy, it was “one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history”.
Er No, you are hardly resistance if the only difference you have with the establishment is the speed of implementation. Bunch of idiots, hardly the French Resistance.
“4.4billion barrells left in the ground” So still there, for use in more enlightened times… thanks, JSO.
And all the oil that is coming out of the ground around the World? Is Phoebe interested in that staying in the ground?
The closure of JSO probably has more to do with defunding than government policy.
USAid perhaps?
Yup, I reckon so. The money’s dried up.
How much money do they need for some (oil based) banners, high vis vests and glue?
They should have just left the protestors glued to the wall, build a cage around them.
Yep. And give them lots to eat and drink. Make an exhibit of them.
On the other hand… Nah, someone might have thrown soup over them.
A quote from the book A song for the river by Philip Connors, author of Fire Season. Speaking of the National Forest change of policy from stamping out all burns to allowing controlled burns – In 1978 “An area of 30000 acres of wilderness would be allowed to burn in prescribed natural fires…a belated recognition that the land had burned for millennia….A big fire is just the birthday of the next forest.” Thus demonstrating that politicians and their advisers were proved wrong in their policy which had allowed the build up of brush that then caused even bigger fires in the long run. You can’t control nature.
Tabatha and Tarquin Heathcote Smythe can find something else to do with daddy’s money, now. They can stop helping to increase energy costs for ordinary working class people. Just Stop Oil are eco scum and an enemy of the poor. I despise the air they breathe. Hope they don’t breed so their useless genes are removed from the gene pool.
Haha! “Tabatha and Tarquin Heathcote Smythe”— made me laugh!
These clowns will still protest, it’s what they do. They will latch on to another ’cause’ to protest about.