Recently, a reader of the Baltimore Sun reminded the population of that great American city that ivermectin is much more than just a crude horse or animal de-worming medication. However, that’s exactly how reporters and many other American papers represent the therapy. Remember TrialSite’s retort of the Los Angeles Times hit piece? The Maryland resident responded to yet another ivermectin hit piece in this Mid-Atlantic city from yet another journalist using the pen as a sword in a concerted, protracted information war.
Ms. Janine DiStephan reminds all that the antiparasitic drug has brought extraordinary benefits to humanity.
Prior to COVID-19, ivermectin was often referred to as a “Wonder Drug,” In fact, the inventors of this drug won a Nobel Prize as it is one of the “greatest discoveries in medicine” while used as an antiparasitic treatment. Ivermectin is saving “countless human lives” while stopping the spread of parasitic-borne diseases around the world via programs such as Mectizan. TrialSite recently reported that researchers associated with the BOHEMIA Project are even looking at using the drug to stop malaria.
Yet if one were to read the American mainstream press, one would never know that this drug does so much good—and that it’s quite safe at current indications. The drug has been under attack by the FDA and other agencies since it was put to use as an early treatment for COVID-19, starting first mostly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), then in America.
This came as the result of lab work early on during the pandemic when scientists in Australia found that the antiparasitic drug actually zapped SARS-CoV-2. Since then, 81 studies in humans have been completed, including many dozens reporting positive data but a few more extensive high-profile studies that failed to meet primary endpoints. The mainstream press, such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, pounced all over any news deemed negative. But several studies revealed positive results.
By early 2021, the use of the drug off-label skyrocketed from 3,000 prescriptions per week to nearly 90,000 targeting COVID-19. Attacks on safety were exposed, at least in some cases, as misinformation as TrialSite discovered. In one instance, the AAPCC and the National Poison Data System reported an increase in calls to toxic centers associated with ivermectin from January to August 2021.
TrialSite did some digging and found a different reality. The vast majority of the case calls (nearly 80%) fell under the “no problem” category. It turned out that only 1% of the calls (11 cases) were associated with the severe category, yet none were classified for further analysis. This is despite the massive increases in the use of prescriptions off-label.
When industry and the FDA found out the extent of the off-label usage, they reacted with a campaign to smear the drug as they didn’t want any doctors prescribing off-label for COVID-19.
The FDA sent menacing letters to licensing body associations for both physicians and pharmacies cautioning against any misinformation. In doing so, doctors or pharmacists associated with any criticism of the vaccines or, for that matter, advancing drugs such as ivermectin off-label for COVID-19 as part of early treatment regimens could lose their licenses. In fact, some doctors have lost their licenses, and one was even required to go through a psychiatric evaluation.
Consequently, a considerable push by mainstream media sought to denigrate and attack the drug as used only for animals, particularly for ridding them of worms.
Mainstream media completely ignored any positive news associated with the drug, yet they pounced all over any negative news. In what has progressed into an information war, TrialSite contends that the situation isn’t necessarily black or white, as there are now data that are both positive as well as data revealing no efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.
In the letter to the editor of the Sun and its reporter is an underlying message that dissing this drug as part of a top-down agenda to federalize COVID-19-based medicine leads to another form of misinformation that is sanctioned, even mandated, from the powers-that-be above. The entire process reflects either a persistent ignorance, at best, or an unfortunately “stubborn intentional falsification” of a drug that has, overall, done so much good for humanity.