Ivermectin isn't proven, but news stories have convinced Bangladeshis, apparently.
Meanwhile, as scientists from across the world are striving hard to slow the spread of the virus and to find effective treatments, a team of doctors from the Bangladesh Medical College Hospital claim to have achieved "astounding" success in treating patients suffering from Covid-19 with two commonly used drugs: Doxycycline, an antibiotic, and Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug. Soon after the news media ran the story, both these drugs disappeared lickety-split from the shelves of pharmacies all over Dhaka.
The concept of treating a virus with antibiotic or anti-parasitic drug has no scientific basis. The doctors did not pursue the normal protocol that is assiduously followed in the research and development of any new drug. Instead, their claim has allowed the sale of unproven medicines among a hysterical population. There was tremendous price-gouging in the process, each drug selling at 1,000 percent more than the regular price. After all, when we feel existentially threatened by a deadly virus, and doctors claim we can take control of our health with a product available at local pharmacies, the price becomes immaterial.
This is frustrating. Searching pubmed for "ivermectin antiviral" turns up 62 hits. It is an antiviral, shown to be deadly to the dengue fever virus (though not effective clinically). It has a well-known antiviral mechanism: ivermectin binds to the IMP alpha/beta1 dimers that covid19 uses to penetrate the cell nucleus where it replicates; if the dimers are bound by ivermectin, then covid19 replication is stopped. That's the theory, anyway. The MedCram guy lays this out in episode 52.
[-] TrumpLyftAlles | 1 points | Jul 01 2020 23:39:35
Ivermectin isn't proven, but news stories have convinced Bangladeshis, apparently.
Meanwhile, as scientists from across the world are striving hard to slow the spread of the virus and to find effective treatments, a team of doctors from the Bangladesh Medical College Hospital claim to have achieved "astounding" success in treating patients suffering from Covid-19 with two commonly used drugs: Doxycycline, an antibiotic, and Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug. Soon after the news media ran the story, both these drugs disappeared lickety-split from the shelves of pharmacies all over Dhaka.
The concept of treating a virus with antibiotic or anti-parasitic drug has no scientific basis. The doctors did not pursue the normal protocol that is assiduously followed in the research and development of any new drug. Instead, their claim has allowed the sale of unproven medicines among a hysterical population. There was tremendous price-gouging in the process, each drug selling at 1,000 percent more than the regular price. After all, when we feel existentially threatened by a deadly virus, and doctors claim we can take control of our health with a product available at local pharmacies, the price becomes immaterial.
This is frustrating. Searching pubmed for "ivermectin antiviral" turns up 62 hits. It is an antiviral, shown to be deadly to the dengue fever virus (though not effective clinically). It has a well-known antiviral mechanism: ivermectin binds to the IMP alpha/beta1 dimers that covid19 uses to penetrate the cell nucleus where it replicates; if the dimers are bound by ivermectin, then covid19 replication is stopped. That's the theory, anyway. The MedCram guy lays this out in episode 52.
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