Ivermectin Ban Lifted
Doctors will be free to prescribe ivermectin ‘off-label’ from 01 June 2023, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced on 3 May.
A Regulatory U-turn
This is a reversal of a national ban on off-label prescribing of ivermectin, which the TGA enacted on 10 September 2021, in an attempt to prevent doctors from prescribing the drug to treat Covid.
At the time, the TGA stated that the restriction was necessary because:
- People would be at risk if they took ivermectin instead of getting vaccinated
- People who took ivermectin may choose not to get tested or to seek medical care if they had symptoms
- Social media posts were promoting higher doses of ivermectin than what is normally recommended for approved uses
- There had been a 3-4 fold uptake in ivermectin and the TGA was worried about a shortage disadvantaging vulnerable people who really needed the drug
So, instead of launching a nationwide education campaign and recommending that the Australian Government throw a few million dollars at bolstering the national stockpile of ivermectin, the TGA effectively banned the drug for all but a narrow set of uses.
The TGA has now relaxed the ban because, “there is sufficient evidence that the safety risks to individuals and public health is low when prescribed by a general practitioner in the current health climate.”
It would seem, though, that there was sufficient evidence of ivermectin’s safety all along. In July 2021, Rebecca Weisser wrote in Ivermectin. It’s as Aussie as Vegemite, for Spectator Australia:
As for safety, 3.7 billion doses of ivermectin have been used since 1987 and in 30 years, only 20 deaths following its use have been reported to the UN’s Vigi-Access database. Compare that to remdesivir, which has been given emergency use authorisation to treat Covid in Australian hospitals. In 12 months, there have been 551 deaths reported. Indeed, a study published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association this week found remdesivir did not increase survival, just time spent in hospital.
The TGA’s stated concerns over ivermectin’s safety back in September 2021 seem incoherent when taken alongside its authorisation of remdesivir.
A Doctor’s Perspective
An Australian doctor, who prefers to remain anonymous, was suspended by industry regulator AHPRA for prescribing ivermectin off-label during the pandemic. He says,
“I think the restriction on prescribing ivermectin off-label was disingenuous from the start. It was always about coaching people toward the option of vaccination by removing a legitimate off-label therapeutic option. The decision effectively punished Australians for being self-educated and aware of the scientific evidence supporting ivermectin.
The reversal of the ban is a good step and it appears that doctors may be restored their full rights to off-label prescribing.
But, there remains the question of whether lives have in fact been lost due to the limitation of ivermectin through this policy.”
Did Restrictions on Off-label Prescription of Ivermectin Cost Lives?
This is the question posed by Kara Thomas, Secretary of the Australian Medical Professionals’ Society, and Andrew McIntyre, Gastroenterologist and Coordinator of the Doctors Against Mandates legal action, in an op-ed from March this year, also for Spectator Australia. The article raises more questions than answers, but serves to highlight the disparity between the safety profiles of ivermectin (better) and Covid vaccines (worse), as well as a summary of the scientific evidence for ivermectin’s effectiveness.
The effectiveness of ivermectin in treating Covid is hotly argued in all corners of the internet, but it is worth noting that internationally renowned ICU doctor Paul Marik wept when his hospital enforced a policy preventing him from using it in combination with other therapeutics. There are numerous other frontline doctors who similarly expressed dismay at being prevented from administering the drug, after seeing lives saved under their care.
Lifting of Ban is Not an Endorsement
Though prescribing restrictions on ivermectin are to be lifted, the TGA does not endorse off-label prescribing of ivermectin for the treatment or prevention of Covid.
”A large number of clinical studies have demonstrated ivermectin does not improve outcomes in patients with COVID-19. The National Covid Evidence Taskforce (NCET) and many similar bodies around the world, including the World Health Organization, strongly advises against the use of ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19.”
It will now be at the discretion of Australian doctors to make their best clinical judgement on a case by case basis.
Research in Progress
Monash University, Melbourne, is running a blinded and randomised clinical trial to test ivermectin’s efficacy for Covid prevention. The trial is led by Dr Kylie Wagstaff, whose preliminary in vitro study in collaboration with the Doherty Institute (April 2020) found that ivermectin stopped the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture within 48 hours.
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Originally published at Dystopian Down Under. Photo by Wikimedia Commons.
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Thanks for posting ivermectin has been very helpful especially during past few years …
The TGA has shown its self to be another tentacle in the one world government …….agenda.
“But, there remains the question of whether lives have in fact been lost due to the limitation of ivermectin through this policy.”
No. How could there be when study after study finds that Ivermectin has no effect at normal dosage levels?
https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/tables/ivermectin-data/
https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o917
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2209017
The reality is that the TGA has now lifted the ban so that it’s GP’s who are determining dosages, so that they “first do no harm” if they do prescribe it, instead of the anti-vax grifters out there recommending elephant sized dosages which are themselves a danger to health.
Rebekah, thank you so much for this post. I am thrilled with your balanced perspective. The only ‘point’ I would add, would be the real reason for the original ban was to increase the ‘number of cases’, because of fewer early recoveries, and to bolster the ‘sales’ of ‘vaccines’ and justify the government’s investment.
I wonder how you can be so cynical, Jim, to imagine that our political leaders, especially those advising our politicians on health policy, who, as medicos all follow the principle, “First do no harm”, could possibly collude to withhold a medication from the public “to bolster the ‘sales’ of ‘vaccines’ and justify the government’s investment”.
And when you follow the logic of that, it requires numerous politicians and health officials, not just at the Federal level, but in every State, and in fact globally, to be deceitfully withholding information on Ivermectin as a potential treatment.
Did you think that through, Jim?
For a start, at the beginning of the pandemic there was no vaccine, and as most experts were doubtful that one could even be developed, there was no vaccine likely at the time the TGA barred Ivermectin for COVID treatment.
And as there were so many clinical trials which proved it was ineffective as a treatment before the vaccines were available, then why would you not take note of those (I’ve provided a number in my comment above).
But you give yourself away with the sneer quotes around the word ‘vaccines’, showing that you do not regard them as true or effective vaccines. In the face of overwhelming proof of their life saving effectiveness, and their benefit far outweighing the incredibly rare risk of adverse effects, is evidence of a dark and obstinate cynicism which is contradictory to Biblical principles and teaching, and only serves to deceive and divide, an issue I wrote about several months ago (https://dailydeclaration.org.au/2022/08/29/what-hinders-revival/).