Desperate times call for desperate measures: Lito Atienza defends gov’t ivermectin trial

By Billy Begas

Deputy Speaker and Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza on Sunday reprimanded former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral for questioning the government’s move to fund the clinical trial on ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19.

Atienza said nobody in the private sector wanted to fund research on ivermectin “because it is an inexpensive and low-margin generic drug.”

“Government itself is sponsoring the clinical trial on ivermectin because we are in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic. Filipinos are desperate for affordable prevention and treatment, and yet nobody else wants to fund a study,” Atienza said.

Even in the United States, Atienza said only the University of Minnesota is conducting America’s first randomized trial on the drug to prevent and treat COVID-19.

In a television interview, Cabral said that the government should not be spending P22 million for the ivermectin trial. She said those who wish to promote and market a drug should be ones to fund the research.

On President Rodrigo Duterte’s orders, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is set to conduct a clinical trial to ascertain effectiveness of ivermectin against COVID-19.

The DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development is recruiting COVID-19 patients in Metro Manila to participate in the trial that is expected to begin in the first week of June and last for eight months.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)