UncoverDC By Michelle Edwards -December 16, 2021
In late June, the University of Oxford announced that PRINCIPLE, one of the U.K. Government’s national priority platform trials of COVID-19 treatments, would be evaluating Ivermectin, the seventh treatment to be investigated in the PRINCIPLE trial. Along with the influenza antiviral drug favipiravir, Ivermectin, the “safe, broad-spectrum antiparasitic drug,” was added as part of the trial’s focus on treatment for people in the U.K. who have recently developed symptoms of COVID-19. Yet, suddenly, without an explanation from Merck—who is a key manufacturer of the generic, readily available drug Ivermectin—MedPage Today reports that PRINCIPLE’s trial on the drug is paused, stating:
“The Ivermectin arm of the U.K.’s PRINCIPLE trial is “currently paused due to temporary supply issues.”With over 5,000 people signed up for the study, participants were randomly assigned to receive a three-day course of Ivermectin treatment. The trial was set to offer meaningful and much-anticipated data. And despite the current demand for Ivermectin, a robust supply is typically available, making the supply issue challenging to understand. Without question, the market caused by off-label usage has been substantial as prescriptions in the U.S. went from a few thousand per week pre-pandemic to nearly 90,000 per week during the pandemic. Nonetheless, this drug is straightforward to produce, and there are multiple suppliers.
Notably, as multiple experts proclaim the extremely positive benefits of early treatment with Ivermectin in COVID-19, Merck’s declaration that the probability of effective treatment with Ivermectin is “low” is suspicious. It would be careless to neglect to mention that Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics recently signed a $2.2 billion agreement with the U.S. government to purchase 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir, which the company began focusing on in April 2021 after the discontinuation of the development of MK-7110 for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the hospital. In a Nov. 9, 2021 press release to announce the agreement, Merck declared:
“We’re honored that the U.S. government has chosen to purchase more than 3 million courses of molnupiravir, our promising oral antiviral, so that molnupiravir, if authorized, will be among the vaccines and medicines available to fight COVID-19 as part of our collective efforts to bring this pandemic to an end. In light of the continued impact of the pandemic on hundreds of thousands of people every day, all of us at Merck are moving with urgency and rigor to bring molnupiravir, with its compelling data showing a significant reduction in death and hospitalizations, to patients as quickly as we can.”
More:
https://uncoverdc.com/2021/12/16/supply-issues-pause-uk-ivermectin-trial-as-merck-lands-2-2b-us-govt-contract-for-new-drug/
