Surgisphere Sows Confusion About Another Unproven COVID-19 Drug

The company behind a now-discredited study on hydroxychloroquine also posted a report that has been cited by Latin American governments recommending ivermectin as a possible coronavirus treatment. Clinicians there say the effects have been extremely damaging.

| 12 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
12:00
Share

ABOVE: Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, where some people desperate to protect themselves against COVID-19 have had injections of veterinary formulations of ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that is not known to be effective against the novel coronavirus
© ISTOCK.COM
, DC_COLOMBIA

Update (October 13): Peru’s Ministry of Health yesterday retracted its recommendation of ivermectin and other drugs in treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The announcement, published today in El Peruano, nullifies an entire section of the ministry’s guidelines that had originally included recommendations to use hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin. Ivermectin was added to those guidelines by ministerial resolution on May 8.

Update (June 22): The Pan American Health Organization, a regional office of the World Health Organization, has issued a statement warning against the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19. The statement notes that the antiparasitic drug is being investigated in clinical trials, but currently, “ivermectin is incorrectly being used for ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio