PETALING JAYA: The health ministry will release the results of a local study on the usage of the controversial Ivermectin drug against Covid-19 next week.
Despite the drug being touted as a prevention or treatment for Covid-19, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah previously said there was inconclusive evidence to recommend its use for patients.
“The great debate locally on #Ivermectin will be settled soon. We did a local study on Ivermectin and the results are in,” health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in a tweet today.
Khairy said Dr Kalaiarasu Peariasamy, director of the health ministry’s Institute for Clinical Research, would be presenting the results next week.
In Malaysia, Ivermectin is mostly used in veterinary medicine, especially in the treatment of worm infestations.
On June 5, Noor Hisham was reported as saying that the health ministry and the Institute for Clinical Research had started clinical trials to study the use and efficacy of Ivermectin for high-risk Covid-19 patients at 12 hospitals under the ministry.
Earlier this week, deputy health minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali told the Dewan Negara the ministry’s Pharmacy Enforcement Division had received 175 complaints on Ivermectin from Jan 1 last year to September 2021.
“A total of 17 premises were raided in 2020 with a total seizure of Ivermectin worth RM7,193. This year, 43 premises were raided and 17 inspections carried out, with total seizures worth RM124,815,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
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