Watchdog scientists are sounding the alarm over covid-19 studies involving ivermectin, a long-used antiparasitic that some claim can be effective at treating or preventing the viral illness. In a new article this week, they argue that the research into ivermectin has been plagued by widespread fraud and lax oversight by other researchers. The best way to prevent similar issues moving forward, they say, is to impose stricter standards in general on how data is collected and re-analyzed by scientists conducting reviews of the evidence.
Ivermectin has emerged as an unexpected cultural totem of the pandemic. Some people, who often also distrust vaccines or have downplayed the pandemic, believe that ivermectin is a highly effective covid-19 drug that has been kept away from the public at the behest of Big Pharma. Many people have been rightly skeptical of these claims, though some have been fooled by reports claiming that overdoses of ivermectin have
overwhelmed emergency rooms or that it’s causing a mass epidemic of
infertility in users.
In
truth, ivermectin is an immensely valuable drug that’s very safe and effective when taken as an antiparasitic. But despite some early studies in animals or in the lab suggesting that it could also help kill the coronavirus, the bulk of the evidence does not point to a major benefit from the drug for actual covid-19 patients, at least to date. The largest and seemingly highest-quality studies have found no real effect on mortality or prevention of infection. Meanwhile, the findings of some studies that seemed to show a tremendous effect have since been thrown into question.
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