It is an FDA-approved drug for this specific purpose at a very specific dose, but for more than a year, Dr. Joseph Varon said he has used it proudly, off-label, to treat thousands of COVID-19 patients admitted to United Memorial Medical Center.
“I have used Ivermectin in a few thousand patients,” he said. “I can’t tell you the exact number, but I know it’s been a pretty large number of patients and I haven’t seen any significant side effects. Not one,” Varon said.
He and his colleagues began promoting the drug last December and held a press conference to implore the medical community to use it as part of the COVID-19 treatment.
But a recent increase in pet food stores, where the drug is sold as a dewormer for cows and horses, has prompted the FDA to issue a warning, saying Ivermectin should not be used to treat or prevent the coronavirus.
It is not approved for this use.
READ MORE: Horse deworming as a COVID treatment baffles pet stores
In addition, the animal version of the drug, according to the FDA, is different from the human version, saying in part, “Animal drugs are usually very concentrated because they are used for large animals such as horses and cows, which can weigh much more. than a ton or more. Such high doses can be highly toxic to humans. “
Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of infectious diseases and tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, shares the same warning.
“When you start treating off the label without any scientific evidence of benefits, without a standardized dosage or duration of therapy, you may find significant problems in terms of adverse effects,” he said.
Varon tells ABC13 that his team started using the drug last summer and said “people were dying.”
“We were in the middle of a pandemic,” he said. “You have to try things. You have no choice.”
According to their data, Ivermectin, in combination with COVID therapies, saves lives.
“It’s not just Ivermectin,” he said. “That’s where people get confused. Ivermectin helps you, but it helps you when you do it, in addition to other components of the treatment protocols out there.”
Again, it is important to note that Ivermectin is not FDA approved for the treatment or prevention of COVID and the agency suggests that drugs developed for animals should never be ingested.
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