Australia's The Centre for Digestive Disease (CDD) Medical Director Professor Thomas Borody MB, BS, BSc(Med), MD, PhD, DSc, FRACP,FACP,FACG, AGAF, says FDA and TGA approved Ivermectin which he uses regularly in his hospital, has shown positive results for COVID-19 and should be considered immediately to fight the pandemic.

Ivermectin was discovered in the 1970s and is on the World Health Organization (WHO) list of essential medicines.

Professor Borody has used the same methodology with the COVID-19 Ivermectin Triple Therapy as he used when he developed the world’s first cure for peptic ulcers saving millions of lives around the globe. He says this combination of 3 approved “off the shelf” drugs could be the answer to Australia’s COVID-19 crisis.

“If nothing else, make it available in aged care homes immediately. Our elderly are at the highest risk and this is a very safe option especially when we have nothing else except ventilators. Also, our frontline workers deserve more protection with a preventative medication like this, and as an emergency treatment if they test positive,” says Professor Borody.

“An Ivermectin tablet can cost as little as $2 – which could make it by far the cheapest, safest, and fastest cure for Australians and the Australian economy," he added.

Professor Borody is an internationally regarded physician with 4 FDA approved drugs on the US and Australian markets, who is famous for developing the triple therapy that cured peptic ulcers saving more than 18,000 lives just in Australia and millions internationally.

He said Ivermectin has a good safety profile and in fact the WHO says in a report ‘Mass treatment with ivermectin: an underutilized public health strategy’. Some of the medical professionals already using it as a preventative therapy themselves. It is time to capitalize on the full public health potential of ivermectin” as an anti-parasitic.  [https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/8/editorial30804html/en/]

In the Journal of Antibiotics a 12 June 2020 report on Ivermectin says: [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41429-020-0336-z]

“Several studies reported antiviral effects of ivermectin on RNA viruses such as Zika, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, Hendra, Newcastle, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, chikungunya, Semliki Forest, Sindbis, Avian influenza A, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, Human immunodeficiency virus type 1, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.”

Professor Borody says his research has led him to a triple therapy of Ivermectin, zinc and an antibiotic – which are all TGA and FDA approved – which could be the fastest and safest way to stop the Victorian outbreak within 6-8 weeks. [See Professor Borody’s published research papers ORIC here http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0519-4698]

Professor Borody said, “These 3 medications are already approved. They do not need pre-clinical or clinical trials nor additional TGA approvals unless the aim is to combine in a single capsule, for example. Patient treatment programs have been done in the US and elsewhere which indicate it can work within 4-6 days.”

Professor Borody has reviewed the key antiviral scientific research literature and identified the combination of 3 drugs that are in chemists right now and can be prescribed by doctors immediately. The tablets can be taken at home as a preventive treatment by high risk individuals, or by those who test positive to minimise need for hospitalisation at the higher curative dose.

The therapy comprises:

1. Ivermectin - TGA and FDA approved as an anti-parasitic therapy with an established safety profile since the 1970s. Known as the “Wonder Drug” from Japan.
2. Zinc
3. Doxycycline – TGA and FDA approved tetracycline antibiotic that fights infections, such as acne, urinary tract infections, intestinal infections, respiratory infections, eye infections, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, periodontitis (gum disease), and others.

Professor Borody says distribution teams could be deployed in Victoria’s hotspots to treat proven infected patients immediately, and people exposed or at risk could be taking the preventative dose.