The American Medical Association (AMA) is calling for an “immediate end” to the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 and for doctors to stop prescribing it for this purpose, amid an increase in use of the drug.
Ivermectin, often used as a deworming agent in animals and sometimes for humans, is not approved to treat COVID-19 and has not been shown to work for this purpose. Poison control centers have seen a five-fold increase in calls related to ivermectin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The AMA, the country’s largest medical group, is now joining the warning against drug use, joining the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC.
“We are alarmed by reports that the prescription and dispensing of ivermectin have increased 24 times since the pandemic and have increased exponentially in recent months,” the AMA said in a statement, to which they added the Association American Pharmacists and the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. “As such, we call for an immediate end to the prescription, dispensing, and use of ivermectin for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 outside of a clinical trial.”
The groups also call on doctors and pharmacists to warn patients about the use of the drug to treat COVID-19.
“The use of ivermectin for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 has been shown to be detrimental to patients,” the groups said. “Calls to poison control centers due to ivermectin ingestion have multiplied by five from their pre-pandemic baseline.”
Experts say that instead of running the use of unproven drugs, people should be vaccinated.