Ivermectin Shows Antiviral Effect Against Omicron: Japanese Pharma Firm
By Naveen Athrappully
A Japanese conglomerate that is studying the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin has found that the medication had an antiviral effect on Omicron, according to joint non-clinical research.
Kowa Co. Ltd., a conglomerate with interests in trading, hospitality, and electronics, along with health and medical applications, issued a press release (pdf) on Jan. 31 stating that ivermectin has been found to be effective against Omicron in in vitro studies. The firm is also in the process of carrying out a Phase 3 clinical trial on the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients, though the company’s remarks on effectiveness pertain to the findings of lab-based research.
Kowa representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
The company, working with Kitasato University based in Tokyo, said that ivermectin has the “same antiviral effect” on all “mutant strains,” including Alpha, Delta, and Omicron. Kowa added that ivermectin suppresses invasion of the virus and inhibits its replication.
“[Ivermectin] is expected to be applied as a therapeutic drug (tablet) for all new coronavirus infectious diseases,” the report said.
Ivermectin has been used by the World Health Organization for over 30 years to treat parasitic infections. Volunteers have distributed the drug in African countries where it has been found to be extremely effective, said the Kowa report.
However, the treatment has been mired in controversy during recent times as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, even though the drug is used in humans to treat a variety of conditions.
The FDA has refused to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) asking for details about any reports of side effects related to the use of ivermectin in treating COVID-19 while publicly denouncing its usage.
The federal government pays hospitals across the country to treat COVID-19 patients, but the payment is tied to approved methods, and ivermectin is not part of the protocol.
However, families desperate to save their loved ones are resorting to secretly sneaking the drug into hospitals as a last-ditch effort that often ends up helping the infected person recover.
All or part of 22 countries around the globe have approved the use of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19, based on multiple studies. Japan has not yet approved ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19.
A bill has been presented to make New Hampshire the first state in the country to make ivermectin part of the approved COVID-19 treatments and offer it as an over-the-counter medication.
“I have absolutely no doubt lives will be saved if human grade ivermectin was available to COVID patients,” state Rep. Leah Cushman, a Republican and also a registered nurse, told The Epoch Times about her proposed bill HB3005.
The detractors of using ivermectin have claimed that the drug is extremely dangerous. “I would never want this medication prescribed to myself or my family and would take legal action against anyone who recommended this to my loved ones,” Dr. David Levine of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center wrote in his written testimony on the bill.
Dr. Paul Marik, a supporter of using ivermectin, testified that ivermectin “is one of the safest drugs on the face of this planet.”
Marik, who is a co-founder of the physician-comprised advocacy group Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, said ivermectin is approved for the treatment of viruses in 79 countries.
“So somehow Japanese people, Indian people, Brazilian people can tolerate it safely, but it’s toxic in Americans. You have to be kidding,” Marik said.
Marik was forced to resign from his position at the Eastern Virginia Medical School over legal battles regarding the usage of alternate treatments for COVID-19, including using ivermectin.
I wonder how the MRNA is entering the cells which stimulates the immune response thus producing antibodies. Could it be that if Ivermectin were taken at the same time as an injection, that ivermectin had already closed and locked the door to the cells thereby nullifying the benefit of the vaccine and they know this. For what I have read, ivermectin does exactly that, it blocks the access that Covid would have to the cells and also interferes with the transmission of the DNA/RNA that the virus would need to subdue the
immune response. To the later, the method of implanting the virus information to the cells is blocked. So what I’ve read it protects us in two ways. But as I said if the vaccine uses the same method to introduce their messenger RNA into our cells and it is blocked by the Ivermectin then of course they will fight the broad distribution of ivermectin. Nature cannot waste any energy. So there are many compounds in the body which the body produces that uses that compound in many different ways. So it stands to reason that compounds such as ivermectin which does kill parasites in the body would also have multiple functions. No one has told us how ivermectin goes about taking care of the parasites. someone knew this or otherwise why was it ever made public and why should we even consider ivermectin as an antiviral. And I do not believe that this is snake oil and even if the placebo effect is a positive thing and ivermectin does not hurt or damage the body, then why not allow it. But if ivermectin is blocking a pathway for the effectiveness of the vaccine and they know it, that gets to their pocketbook.