Bogotá DC, July 12, 2020. The Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA), the Institute for Health Technology Assessment (IETS), and the Colombian Association of Infectology (ACIN) announce that they do not recommend the use of ivermectin as a treatment for covid-19, except when used within a clinical study that has been approved by INVIMA.

The decision is made after validating the lack of scientific evidence on the effectiveness of treatment with this drug. This was expressed by the Deputy Minister of Public Health and Provision of Services, Luis Alexander Moscoso, adding that "ivermectin has a defined use in the country and is available both in outpatient and hospital settings. This drug was subjected to some analyses where inhibition in the reproduction of the virus could be demonstrated, but in non-human environments, and so far, there is no scientific evidence of an effect on covid-19. Therefore, the National Government does not recommend its use."

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the results of the effectiveness of ivermectin "are not sufficient to indicate that it will be clinically beneficial to reduce viral load in patients with covid-19."

Given the situation, the IETS made an international reference on the position of 12 international agencies and institutions regarding the use of ivermectin for the management of covid-19, among which are the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Institute of Evaluation of Health Technologies and Research of Peru (iETSI). All agreed not to recommend the use of this medicine for covid-19.

Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) explicitly excluded ivermectin from the Solidarity study because there is no evidence of its potential use, as opposed to what happened with hydroxychloroquine.

In this regard, PAHO has been emphatic in stating that "it discourages the use of ivermectin for all purposes other than those for which it is authorized." It is highlighted that this antiparasitic medicine is used in some tropical diseases, for example river blindness, which Colombia has already managed to eradicate.