KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) today advises the people against taking ivermectin for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19, said Health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said this followed the absence of clinical data to prove the effectiveness of its use in the treatment or prevention of the disease.
“The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has announced that so far no products containing active ivermectin have been registered with Drug Control Authority (PBKD) for human consumption,” he said in a statement on the current COVID-19 situation in Malaysia today.
He explained that the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has not approved the indication of ivermectin for the treatment or prevention of the infection and it was clarified by FDA in an article titled ‘Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19’ on May 13.
Apart from that, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also not propose the use of ivermectin for COVID-19 treatment as there was insufficient data to prove the effectiveness of the product.
So far, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has only allowed ivermectin in study or clinical trial for the treatment of COVID-19 based on the explanation in the article entitled ‘WHO Advises That Ivermectin Only Be Used to Treat Covid-19 Within Clinical Trials’ on March 31.
“As such, considering the rising spread of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, MOH has no objection to use ivermectin which has not been registered, to carry out clinical trials in Malaysia,” he added.
He also pledged that MOH would give priority to the safety and well-being of Malaysians in the move to combat COViD-19 by focusing on treatment and prevention products which have been approved for use by the people in the country.
Dr Noor Hisham also stressed that complying with the standard operating procedure (SOP) is the most effective measure at the moment to contain COVID-19 infection in Malaysia.
