History: Ivermectin [Mectizan] the "Wonder drug"
Two dead from taking ivermectin in New Mexico
“You are not a horse,” FDA officials tweeted. “You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
September 28, 2021
https://nypost.com/2021/09/28/two-dead-from-taking-ivermectin-in-new-mexico/
Ivermectin, ‘Wonder drug’ from Japan: the human use perspective
This paper looks in depth at the events surrounding ivermectin’s passage from being a huge success in Animal Health into its widespread use in humans, a development which has led many to describe it as a “wonder” drug.
There are few drugs that can seriously lay claim to the title of ‘Wonder drug’, penicillin and aspirin being two that have perhaps had greatest beneficial impact on the health and wellbeing of Mankind. But ivermectin can also be considered alongside those worthy contenders, based on its versatility, safety and the beneficial impact that it has had, and continues to have, worldwide—especially on hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people.
Ivermectin proved to be even more of a ‘Wonder drug’ in human health, improving the nutrition, general health and well-being of billions of people worldwide ever since it was first used to treat Onchocerciasis in humans in 1988.
Indeed, the discovery, development and deployment of ivermectin, produced by an unprecedented partnership between the Private Sector pharmaceutical multinational Merck & Co. Inc., and the Public Sector Kitasato Institute in Tokyo, aided by an extraordinary coalition of multidisciplinary international partners and disease-affected communities, has been recognized by many experts and observers as one of the greatest medical accomplishments of the 20th century.
Following the registration of ivermectin (produced under the brand name Mectizan®) for human use in 1987, in a hitherto unprecedented move and with unheralded commitment, Mectizan® was donated by the manufacturing company, Merck & Co. Inc., to treat onchocerciasis in all endemic countries for as long as it was needed.
Not surprisingly, public health specialists worldwide are now calling for greater and more extensive use of ivermectin
the Kitasato Institute has initiated a global collaboration to investigate all properties and potential of a range of ivermectin analogues, both individually and in combination, particularly with a view to having a ready-made alternative should resistance to current ivermectin monotherapy ever threaten ongoing disease elimination campaigns.
February 10, 2011
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740/
Over 30 Years: The Mectizan® Donation Program
This all began to change in the mid-to-late 1970s, when Dr. William Campbell of Merck Research Laboratories suggested the use of ivermectin (later named Mectizan) for river blindness in humans.
Today, the MDP is the longest-running, disease-specific drug donation program of its kind and has been influential in the development of a number of other drug donation programs. And, the MDP’s community-directed strategy used to distribute Mectizan has enabled add-on health services to be introduced in remote communities where health services are limited. The program reaches more than 300 million people in the affected areas annually, with more than 4 billion treatments donated since 1987.
“This pioneering program has changed the face of global health over the past three decades,” said Yao Sodahlon, head of the MDP. “When I visit communities where Mectizan is donated, I can see how the program has helped alleviate suffering and allowed people to live better and healthier lives.”
January 6, 2021
https://www.merck.com/stories/mectizan/