Ivermectin - Global Fiasco in COVID-19 Pandemic in 2021

#IvermectinFiasco

My scientific mind has been on a over-drive for past two months on Ivermectin application for COVID-19 patients & today came across to the attached pic.

I think till the time people like Dr.Nipa Gandhi are there in India , India doesn’t have to worry.

Let's dig deep into the science of Ivermectin.

Scientific Background of Ivermectin

Mechanism of action

• Ivermectin and its related drugs act by interfering with nerve and muscle function of helminths and insects.
• It binds to glutamate-gated chloride channels that are common to invertebrate nerve and muscle cells.
• It's binding, pushes these channels open, increasing the flow of chloride ions and hyperpolarizing the cell membranes, thereby, it paralyzes the affected tissue, eventually killing the invertebrate. 
• In mammals (including humans) glutamate-gated chloride channels are restricted to the brain and spinal cord.
• It does not readily cross the blood–brain barrier of mammals due to the presence of P-glycoprotein (the MDR1 gene mutation affects function of this protein). Crossing may still become significant if ivermectin is given at high doses (in which case, brain levels peak 2–5 hours after administration). So, it usually does not make it to the brain to affect mammalian channels.

My Personal Experiences with Ivermectin

My first tryst with Ivermectin came in Dec.2015, when I had to take it to de-worm my foot. Most probably it got an entry into my foot during a visit to a jungle like area in Malaysia. I could feel something was moving inside.

As per the course of medication suggestion by my clinician, I found the issue got resolved within a week. Once the worm dies, our immune cells/WBCs will eat the dead worm moving in our vasucular tissue and with phagocytosis, it will break it down to debris and eventually part of the debris will get utilized by our body and part will be excreted out.

My next usage of Ivermectin came in Mar.2020, when I contracted #COVID19. At that time, it didn’t had such global attention which it’s gaining now for the COVID19 pandemic. And yes, it did contributed to my treatment.

And lastly, Ivermectin was taken by me and my son in singular dose as preventative measure as my spouse had contracted COVID19 in the first week of May.2021.

Stand of Goa Government

As per reports, Goa government has shown leadership in backing Ivermectin and have claimed that mortality rate of COVID19 patients is lower who take Ivermectin than those who don’t take it. Interestingly, WHO had earlier severely recommended against the use of Ivermectin for COVID19 patients except within clinical trials.

Commercials of Ivermectin

If you take quick look at the price of a tablet of Ivermectin, it’s just Rs.22-35 i.e. less than half a US dollar. Also, the check the exports of Ivermectin API from India from 2020.

The price of the APIs has increased by as much as 300% ever since the 2nd wave of COVID-19 has erupted in India.

Since the price of the medicines manufactured using these ingredients is regulated under the drug price control order, their maximum price cannot be enhanced. With China suspending cargo flights to India, the manufacturers feared that more trouble was in the offing.

FYI, A sizeable chunk of the APIs comes from China.

Way Forward

Once the mechanistic understanding of how a 'safe anti-helminth' drug like Ivermectin is able to show some positive signs (anti-viral/virucidal/virustatic) on COVID-19 patients is established via deep biological scientific clinical experimental trials, then things can have global consensus. What we need to have till then, is a balance of humanity. Moreover, Ivermectin should have one global consensus during COVID-19 pandemic. It will be criminal, if tomorrow we find that 'it scientifically acts on the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus but we didn't administered it to the COVID-19 patients, especially in the early-stage of infection due to lack of global consensus'. I hope everyone's heart is in it's right place.

References:

(Disclaimer: Always consult your doctor w.r.t. any medications intake for any health related issues. This article was first published by Ft. Arnab Guha on May 31, 2021.)