Original article (in Croatian) was published on 03/02/2022
Some websites still insist that the effect of ivermectin against COVID-19 has been proven on people in Japan, even though it was a translation error.
Reuters’ news that the Japanese pharmaceutical company Kowa Co Ltd. proved the effectiveness of today’s most controversial drug, ivermectin, against COVID-19 has been spreading worldwide. The alleged result of the third phase of the clinical trial has been published – which would mean that it has been tested on many human subjects. But it was actually another test in a Petri dish, not the third phase of a clinical trial.
Although Reuters’ news was subsequently corrected, and the Japanese company apologized for the confusion it caused with a vague statement, the original misinterpretation continues to exist on websites like Staronormalno.hr. An article entitled “Message to MS Media: Japanese Kowa says ivermectin is effective against Omicron in phase III trials” states the following:
On Monday, Japanese trading and pharmaceutical company Kowa Co. Ltd announced that the anti-parasite drug ivermectin had been found effective for treating Omicron variant COVID-19 in the trial’s phase III.
The study showed that ivermectin has an “antiviral effect” against this variant, Kowa said, without giving any further details. The company collaborates with Kitasato University, Tokyo Medical University.
They also published a link to Reuters’ article, which has been revised and states the following:
The original Reuters story erroneously stated that ivermectin was “effective” against Omicron in phase III of clinical trials conducted in humans.
The third phase
The Japanese company is conducting a third phase of testing the effectiveness of this drug on people with mild to moderate COVID-19, that is, before the disease flares up. Since the aim is to test whether ivermectin helps as early intervention, they are focused on the group of patients who are the subjects of discussion in the story of the effects of this cheap and affordable generic drug.
According to the study design, the results should indeed be globally relevant. They hired a thousand respondents with mild symptoms and whose first positive test is not older than three days.
They use placebo, not alternative or standard treatment, as in the large Oxford trial PRINCIPAL, which also did not end. Furthermore, the testing conducted by Kowa was quadrupled, meaning that neither the participant, the caregiver, the researcher, or the outcome assessor knew who received the placebo and who was given the drug ivermectin.
A problematic announcement
However, the announcement released on January 31 does not say anything about the outcomes of the treatment, although one could easily gain such an impression:
Today, Kowa announced it had been confirmed that the investigational drug ivermectin, used in the III phase of a clinical trial to treat new coronavirus infection, has the same antiviral effects against existing viral strains (with existing alpha, beta, gamma and delta mutations). We confirmed that ivermectin has the same antiviral effects against the Omicron strain.
… We believe that our mission, as a pharmaceutical company, is to contribute to the treatment of new coronavirus infections and protect human health, and conduct clinical trials to confirm the efficacy and safety of ivermectin for new coronavirus infections.
According to Newsweek, the statement revealed that ivermectin was effective against the Omicron strain in an in vitro study, i.e., a non-clinical study.
This effect of ivermectin has been known for a long time, more precisely since mid-2020. It is because of the destruction of the virus on cell cultures by ivermectin that the debate over the effectiveness of this drug in COVID-19 has begun. But tests on human subjects have either refuted the effects of ivermectin or have given unreliable results.
It is assumed that the original content has been replaced by inaccurate information in the translation process. The Kowa Corporation stated that it “sincerely apologizes” for the confusion, concluding:
Our phase III study for the treatment of COVID-19 with ivermectin is still ongoing, and results are not yet available.