Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, given the speed with which vaccines against COVID-19 were approved, what are the causes of the delay to the approval of the use of Ivermectin; and what assessment they have made of (1) the approval of Ivermectin by other countries, and (2) the health benefits that would result from approving Ivermectin for use in the UK.

Ivermectin was entered into the PRINCIPLE clinical trial in the United Kingdom in June 2021. The trial aims to generate robust evidence to determine its effectiveness as a treatment against COVID-19.

To date, there is no conclusive evidence for the efficacy of ivermectin in treating and preventing COVID-19, as there have been no supportive randomised control trials in the United Kingdom. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization have concluded that the evidence in support of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment is insufficient to warrant a marketing authorisation. The FDA has issued warnings against the use of ivermectin whilst it remains in trials, as it can have dangerous interactions with other medicines. Currently, there is no firm deadline set for the publication of trial results. However, the Therapeutics Taskforce continues to monitor any emerging evidence for ivermectin’s use as a treatment for COVID-19.