Medical research is supposed to be non-biased and professional to insulate legitimate scientific inquiry from personal and financial interests. The recently published “Effect of Ivermectin vs Placebo on Time to Sustained Recovery in Outpatients with Mild to Moderate Covid-19” shows the consequences of erosion of scientific integrity by political and financial biases.
The study, performed between June 2021 and February 2022, concluded that Ivermectin was no better than placebo (sugar pills) for treating mild to moderate Covid-19 illness in outpatients.[i] Touted as the definitive protocol to silence Ivermectin promoters, the article was published in the American Medical Association’s journal JAMA on 21 October 2022. Without explanation, the AMA did not allow online comments on the publication. The media predictably hyped the article and simultaneously continued to criticize the drug, something it had done since early 2020. CNBC published “Ivermectin – a drug once touted as a Covid treatment by Conservatives – doesn’t improve recovery much, clinical trial finds” 3 days after the publication was released online.
The second-in-command of the trial, Dr David Boulware, has shown contempt for Ivermectin before, during, and after the study. The Star-Tribune interviewed him on June 13, 2022.
“Ivermectin is not an effective therapy for COVID-19 at this dose and duration, regardless of what the people promoting or selling ivermectin say," said Dr. David Boulware, a U infectious disease researcher who oversaw the design of ACTIV-6 as co-chair of its protocol committee. "This is now the second very large trial to show no benefit of ivermectin."
Boulware said he expects ivermectin proponents to dismiss the latest results because of the lower dosage, but that they are "moving the goalpost" because he consulted with some of them at the outset of ACTIV-6 in early 2021 and they supported the dosage at that time.” Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), one of the largest proponents of ivermectin, disagreed and released a June 2022 paper stating the trial used too low of a dose too late in the course.
This trial used lower doses and shorter durations of treatment that were not being used by Ivermectin prescribers. Worse, the Ivermectin treatments were begun after the known peak viral load in patients. It is well known that anti-virals must be started earlier. Flu medication (within 2 days or less) and Paxlovid (within 5 days or less). As a practicing ER physician, most of my covid treatments were begun within 2-3 days of symptom onset, not the 6-day lag time in the trial. The delay is critical to understanding the drug effects and raises the question if the researchers intentionally delayed treatment for so long to minimize effects of the investigated drug. With the authors’ obvious bias, this is entirely plausible...................To Read More....
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