$130 million spent on off-label ivermectin use – Precision Vaccinations

The JAMA Network has published a Search letter on January 13, 2022, finding that $129,673,240 could have been spent on ivermectin prescriptions over a 12-month period.

This result suggests that U.S. insurers were heavily subsidizing the costs of Ivermectin prescriptions for COVID-19, even though economic theory argues that insurers should not cover ineffective care.

the United States FDA approved ivermectin tablets to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms.

But not to treat COVID-19.

Unnecessary spending by insurers for these prescriptions, estimated at $2.5 million during the week of August 13, 2021, would be extrapolated to $129.7 million per year.

Of the ivermectin prescriptions reviewed, the patients were approximately 52 years old.

The actual amount of waste is even higher because the estimates did not include Medicaid expenditures.

Additionally, by reducing barriers to a drug that some people use as a substitute for COVID-19 vaccination or other evidence-based care, insurance coverage could increase expenditures for COVID complications. -19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that in 2020, countries endemic for onchocerciasis continued to make progress in interrupting transmission of the disease.

“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, health workers managed to provide ivermectin treatment to more than 112 million people,” said Dr. Daniel Argaw Dagne, Chief of Unit, Prevention, Treatment and Care, Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO, in a statement issued on November 26, 2021.

“In the current circumstances, this is a remarkable achievement.”

The US NIH states that “several clinical trials evaluating the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 are currently underway or in development.” Please see ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest information.

Study Corresponding Author: Kao-Ping Chua, MD, Ph.D., University of Michigan Medical School, [email protected].