The Ivermectin discussion

When it comes into people not taking vaccines its a distrust of good science. Spreading bad science or absolute snake oil is a massive problem and a driver of people not taking vaccines. Even on this thread we have people who distrust pharma companies. That's fair enough a healthy amount of skepticism is always warranted about anything. However the pharmaceutical industry is one of the most regulated industries out there. Snake oil sales people are not subject/don't adhere to the same regulations. If you are going to be skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry fair enough but you should be even more skeptical of alternative medicine and claims that are unsupported by science.

Muddying the water with bad science and suggesting doubt where there is none is a trade mark tactic of science deniers. That's my issue about your post about Invecterim. There is no good science behind it when it comes to the treatment of Covid based on my reading of the thread. You post constantly suggesting otherwise which creates doubt to people of certain disposition. If you look at the whole MMR debacle and even the thread on this forum about vaccine effectiveness. It's the same strategy constantly reference bad science to create doubt where there is none. Inevitably some people will listen won't get a vaccine and die.

As others have said there is a massive difference between raising awareness of potential new treatments and constantly pushing unproven treatments.

As far as I'm aware there is no established causal link between vitamin D deficiency and more severe Covid-19, but there is correlation. Honestly, that is enough for me, in a pandemic situation. Where the suggested therapy is abundantly available, provably safe and has enough correlation with better outcomes, it should be provided to patients who want to use it on the basis of informed consent. I've been taking high-dose vitamin D since a while before the pandemic, anyway.

I reckon people see "For equine use only" on the packet and then they think "Oh right, that means we can just horse it in"

Then dont even give them ivermectin, give them a blue pill placebo.

The recommended dose for ivermectin for parasites is a single dose. Its not meant for or been properly tested for continuous use.

All meds have side effects its completely irresponsible to advocate widespread use as a placebo.

If you think you have parasites talk to your doctor about ivermectin.

If you are concerned re covid take the vaccine - and remember some people are jumping on ivermectin as an alternative to vaccines.

If you need covid treatment there are proven steroids such as dexamethasone. For home treatment the UK are using an inhaler steroid becotide I think. Not sure of its status here but thats what you should ask your doctor about.

At least for river blindness the protocol is one dose every 6 months for 10-15 years. It's not just a once off but yeah not the same as taking it every day though

Lets see if I get this right ..... you say that

'because there are no plans to use a medication proves it is ineffective as a treatment for Covid?'

You really need to work on your logic if that is the case.

I have no definite view on whether it is effective or not, but absence of a plan does not prove it one way or the other.

I would take it if it was available at least until it was proved ineffective. At this time there is insufficient proof either way, although the majority of published data indicates it is probably effective.

For all practical purposes Invecterim is ineffective for treating Covid. That's the fact. Maybe a some point in the future it may be found to be effective when it comes to Covid treatment but you can say that about anything.

There is no doubt at the moment. If Invecterim was proven to be effective at treating Covid the people who make it(and will make money off selling it) they would apply for it be to approved for treating Covid.

All your post is the standard conspiracy theory/science denial which is dangerous. Based on this thread the evidence does not suggest its effective. Any of the studies that been put forward to show otherwise have various problems with their methodologies. The evidence on this thread is backed up by the stance of the manufacturers of the drug in question. At the moment in Ireland Invecterim when it comes to treating Covid is as effective as snake oil. It's not approved and the manufactures who make it don't think its effective. Once you start disagreeing with regulators and manufacturers and other independent scientists you are going down the route of conspiracy theories.

The point of posting the article was to show anyone reading this thread the real world consequences of taking an unlicensed drug(when it comes to Covid treatment).

It does. The best example to the Generics industry within Pharmaceuticals. For anyone unfamiliar with generics they a drugs that are whose patent has expired and don't attract the same high margins that patented drugs can be sold at. There are literally multi billion euro companies that specialise in generic manufacturing.

Saying that companies aren't interested in repurposing drugs is also wrong. If you have the manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure set up for a particular drug, changing the dose or other small change required isn't a particularly big deal from a money or time perspective. Especially compared to developing a completely new drug. Even with the vaccines the biggest challenge for manufacturers has literally been the time it's taken to scale and develop production facilities and the supply chain in general to the required levels. If you have a existing drug, you already have a supplier of the active ingredient, manufacturing locations, personal etc already in place. If you are lauching a new drug in your company patented or generic all that needs to be developed from scratch and all the money and time that requires.

With Invecterim it's not effective at treating Covid. If it was Pharmaceutical companies would be applying to get it approved by regulators. That's the harsh reality of it. Pushing Invecterim as any sort of Covid treatment is selling a scam based on current data. In Ireland at least one person has now ended up in hospital after listening to this conspiracy theory.