An Ivermectin black market is burgeoning in Botswana following fringe scientific recommendations that the “miracle drug from Japan” provides effective treatment for coronavirus.
The drug Ivermectin, which has been touted by Australian leading scientist as an effective coronavirus treatment is already being sold by some Gaborone medical practitioners as an underground Covid-19 treatment.
Sunday Standard investigation team has been able to procure a box of 10 Ivermectin tablets on the local black market for P1 300. Before the link to Covid-19, the box was available on the local market for less than P100.
Promoted as part of a triple therapy by Australian based gastroenterologist famous for curing peptic ulcers using a triple antibiotic therapy Thomas Borody, Botswana’s Covid- 19 underground treatment is expected to catch a second wind following the recent decision by neighboring South Africa and Zimbabwe to approve its use to treat Covid-19 patients.
The use of Ivermectin is used in South Africa on compassionate grounds in a controlled-access program, the head of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority revealed earlier this year. South African Medical practitioners who apply to the regulator to use the drug are considered on a case-case basis. Authorities in neighbouring Zimbabwe have also approved the use of ivermectin to treat coronavirus patients, after doctors appealed to the Health Ministry to reverse an earlier ban on imports and use of the drug. Physicians in Zimbabwe are using ivermectin in a solution with nanosilver — which is used as an algaecide — and found the combination to be “a game changer,” the College of Primary Care Physicians said in a letter to the ministry.
In Botswana, the use of Ivermectin to treat Covid-19 is still underground and is being sold online by medical lay people. At the time of going to press, the Botswana Ministry of Health had not responded to a Sunday Standard questionnaire on any plans to regulate the drug in the treatment of Covid-19.
Ivermectin has been used for decades to treat livestock infested with parasitic worms, while in humans it’s used as a topical ointment for diseases including skin infections and inflammation. The World Health Organization has suggested the drug has encouraging effects on coronavirus, though like other regulators it’s also said the medication hasn’t been properly evaluated.
Australian Thomas Borody, a leading campaigner of Ivermectin triple therapy says a combination comprising of ivermectin, zinc and doxycycline could be the fastest and safest way to end the coronavirus pandemic within months.
Borody, a Sydney-based gastroenterologist famous for curing peptic ulcers using a triple antibiotic therapy recently released the triple therapy protocol for COVID-19 to Australian general practitioners (GPs).
“Why are we just waiting around for a vaccine? “He said: “GPs can legally prescribe the therapy today as an off-label treatment according to Australian Guidelines – a standard practice in medicine. In fact, more than 60% of prescriptions in Australia are off-label. It’s not a new concept. It’s happening every day to manage diseases and save lives.”
“We have a therapy that can fight COVID-19. The medications have been around for 50 years, they are cheap, US Food and Drug Administration and Therapeutics Goods Administration approved and have an outstanding safety profile. Why are we just waiting around for a vaccine? To save lives, we should be using whatever is safe and available right now. We could lead the world in this fight.”
Professor Borody added: “Australia has some of the best medical and science people in the world – indeed the ivermectin connection was first discovered by Kylie Wagstaff’s team at Monash University in April.
“How long do we need to wait before Australian politicians get behind Australian medical science and use ‘war room’ tactics with safe and approved medications.”
Professor Borody, who wants his country’s government to encourage GPs to prescribe the combination, has cited an almost 100% cure rate and symptom improvement within four to six days, based on international data.
Ivermectin was discovered in the 1970s and it is on the World Health Organization list of essential medicines. It is currently being researched in 28 COVID-19 studies globally.
With Botswana’s vaccination programme still at its infancy, there are fears that the country may find itself overwhelmed by the pandemic as temperatures cool down with the approaching winter season, and a number of Batswana mostly of Chinese and Asian origin are stocking up on the black-market drug. According to some South African media reports Ivermectin has now become popular on the black market – millions of tablets have been intercepted in South Africa since the beginning of the year with the illicit network extending as far as China and India. According to the South African media, before the link to coronavirus was made, 10 Ivermectin pills would cost about $4 (£2.90) – the price has now increased 15-fold for the same packet.
The use of Ivermectin for coronavirus treatment has however divided opinion in South Africa. The South African media quoted one Ballito doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying more than a dozen of his Covid-19 patients had recovered after treating them with Ivermectin, stopping the downward slide they were on.
He is so convinced of Ivermectin’s effectiveness that he gives it to all his patients showing signs of Covid-19, especially since the drug, in his opinion, has few known negative side effects.
He said it had been seen to effectively treat the virus in the early symptomatic stages and among those hospitalised.
Several North Coast health professionals and front-line workers admitted to using it as a preventative treatment.
While some lab tests have indicated that Ivermectin may cut the Covid mortality rate significantly, medical experts say the science behind the use of the drug in the treatment of the virus is inadequate.
The SA national health department said “given the limited evidence of efficacy and safety, as well as appropriated dosing of Ivermectin, its place in therapy and prophylaxix remains uncertain at this point.”
The Ballito doctor said he believed the safety concerns were no more than “lies and propaganda”, insisting there was not enough literature to validate that claim.
“Big pharma does not want Ivermectin to be used because they want to profit from more expensive drugs,” he said, maintaining that the long-established safety of the drug that has been available for more than 40 years and earned researchers a Nobel Prize, was enough to warrant using it.