https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/01/22/govt-to-hold-clinical-trials-on-2-medicines-for-covid-19-treatment/
Govt to hold clinical trials on 2 medicines for Covid-19 treatmentFMT Reporters -
January 22, 2021 10:24 AM
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says the government will run trials to ascertain the efficacy of the oral Ivermectin and Favipiravir.
PETALING JAYA: The government is developing clinical trials for two medicines to determine their efficacy in treating Covid-19. Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the two medicines are oral Ivermectin (IVM) and Favipiravir. IVM is listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an anthelminthic drug used to treat various parasitic infestations. “It is cheap, easily available and safe for use, and in Malaysia is only licensed for use in animals,” he said in a Facebook post.
Favipiravir is another anti-viral drug which the ministry previously said it was considering using in treating Covid-19 patients. Noor Hisham said some clinicians have repurposed IVM, which has antiviral properties against RNA and DNA viruses, against Covid-19. He said there are now reports indicating the benefits of prescribing IVM in early Covid-19 cases as a way to limiting viral load and preventing severe disease progression or person to person transmission. “A pilot study published in the Lancet a few days ago showed some promising results but the authors concluded that the study warrants further exploration under larger trials with clinical outcomes in patients with risk factors or more severe disease. “The current opinion over IVM is that there is insufficient data to support the use for prophylaxis or treatment of Covid-19.” So, he said, experts from the Institute of Clinical Research and the ministry’s Infectious Disease division are in the process of developing a clinical trial on IVM and Favipiravir. “We shall update the outcome in due course,” he said.
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Post time 24-1-2021 08:48 PM
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