I have been contacted by constituents regarding Ivermectin.
As the Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South, I have included below my response:
With known antiviral properties, ivermectin has been shown to reduce SARS-CoV-2 replication in laboratory studies. Even though ivermectin is used routinely in some countries to treat COVID-19, there is little evidence from large-scale trials to demonstrate that it can speed up recovery from the illness or reduce hospital admission.
I understand that the Department for Health and Social Care is closely monitoring the evidence on the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. A recent collection of small studies has shown some positive indications, however, further high quality, larger-scale studies are still needed to confirm the efficacy of this treatment. I am told that the Therapeutics Taskforce will keep the position on ivermectin under review as more data becomes available.
It is important that potential treatments for COVID-19 are properly studied in order to ensure their safety and efficacy. You may be interested to learn that ivermectin is being investigated as a possible treatment for COVID-19 as part of PRINCIPLE, one of the Government’s national priority platform trials of COVID-19 treatments. PRINCIPLE is investigating treatments for people at more risk of serious illness from COVID-19 which can speed up recovery, reduce the severity of symptoms and prevent the need for hospital admission. It is expected that data will become available from trials throughout 2021 and 2022 and will be reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. I look forward to seeing the results as this trial progresses.
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