A growing number of people are importing an unproven treatment for COVID-19, prompting warnings from the nation’s pharmaceutical regulator.

Key points:

  • The Therapeutic Goods Administration warns against using Ivermectin to treat COVID-19
  • Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication and is not approved for COVID-19 treatment
  • The TGA says it detected an increase in Ivermectin being imported

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has warned people against using the anti-parasitic medication Ivermectin, commonly used to treat things like scabies, mites and worms.

“The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), part of the Department of Health, has detected increased importation and prescribing of Ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19,” the regulator said in a statement.

“The TGA strongly discourages self-medication and self-dosing with Ivermectin for COVID-19 as it may be dangerous to your health.”

The cheap and common drug is promoted by anti-COVID vaccination or anti-lockdown figures, like former Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly and a number of US conservative, fringe campaigners.

Liberal-turned-United Australia Party MP Craig Kelly has promoted Ivermectin.(

AAP: Mick Tsikas

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What is Ivermectin?

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that has previously been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses including HIV, dengue, influenza and zika.

Ivermectin has been used around the world for years as a treatment for a range of conditions including head lice and scabies.

It is available as a pill, lotion and shampoo.

Ivermectin is in use as a treatment for scabies mites.(

Steve Gschmeissner/SPL

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Last year, health authorities began warning people against self-medicating with the drug.

Its advocates point to several studies purporting to show the clinical effectiveness of Ivermectin against COVID-19.

Some Australian research indicated Ivermectin could inhibit the virus from replicating within a cell – although the trial was only in a laboratory, and other researchers found the amounts needed would cause “a massive overdose” if trialled on humans.

What’s the evidence? 

Reviews of most of the published studies on the medication found they were full of problems, including bias and conflicting evidence.

The Cochrane alliance, a global collaboration between scientists to assess clinical research, said the completed studies were “small and few are considered high quality”.

“We are uncertain about the efficacy and safety of Ivermectin used to treat or prevent COVID‐19,” it said.

The TGA has not approved the drug for COVID-19 treatment, saying more investigation was needed.

Even the drug’s manufacturer, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), has urged people not to use the medication to treat COVID-19, warning in a statement that there was:

“No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies;

“No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and;

Despite those urgings, Ivermectin’s popularity amongst fringe medical and anti-vaccination groups and its promotion via the internet has seen demand for it increase.

Doctors cannot prescribe it for COVID-19 infections.

What is happening overseas?

In the United States, health authorities have been forced to warn people against using doses of the drug meant for animals, noting that some animal worming products were in short supply because people were buying them as COVID-19 treatments.

The problem has become so bad in some states that local health authorities have noted dramatic increases in poisoning.

The Health Department of the US State of Mississippi said 70 per cent of the calls it received about poisoning were related to people taking Ivermectin.

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