DRIVEN mainly by their advocacy to help the poorest of the poor battle the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor on Wednesday vowed to push through with the legal and free distribution this Thursday in Quezon City “to those in dire need” of Ivermectin as a potential and very affordable medication against the dreaded disease through their “Ivermectin Pan-three.”

“No [we will not abort the launching. If they will again stop this initiative, I will fight them in court because legally, compliant kami. On two occasions during the [House] hearings, sinabi nila na ito ay pupuwedeng i-proseso. Kung ito muli ay ihihinto nila at ang mga taong mahihirap ay hindi mabibigyan, I will fight them in court. Masyado na,” Defensor told reporters in an interview via Zoom, apparently referring to the strong lobby of big pharmaceutical drug firms to stop the distribution of Ivermectin.

“Ang napapansin ko sa distribution namin ng Ivermectin, marami ang mga may kaya, may internet ang nakaka-access, because they’re able to research, they’re able to watch youtube, they’re able to google what is happening all over the world. Hindi lamang dito sa ating bansa kundi nakikita nila iyung developments sa India, nangyayari sa Japan, sa UK, pinag-uusapan sa Estados Unidos. Pagdating doon sa mahihirap na komunidad na walang access sa internet, dito nagkakaproblema sa edukasyon at impormasyon. So kami, sa aking pananaw, sila ‘yung mas nangangailagan. Kasi kapag itong mga taong ito talagang nagkasakit, wala naman ‘tong gagawin na eh. Hindi nila alam ang gagawin,” Defensor lamented.

Defensor and Deputy Speaker and Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta said their “critical decision” to provide each beneficiary with at least three Ivermectin pills for free in the presence of seven doctors is aimed at boosting the government’s fight against COVID-19.

“We will dispense the drug properly. The people, in the presence of doctors will assist us in checking and giving prescription to our beneficiaries before they are given free access to Ivermectin,” Defensor said on the launching of “Ivermectin Pan-three” in Matandang Old Balara Hall Park in Quezon City this Thursday where the human grade Ivermectin, originally intended for anti-parasitic medication, will be distributed for free.

“This grave public health emergency caused by the pandemic is technically a war that needs to be decisively confronted. In war, people protect themselves with anything in order to survive. We need to cross the line and break the glass ceilings, if we must, one way or the other. We cannot, in good conscience, sit idly by at the excuse of inflexible bureaucracy to deny our people—especially the underprivileged—their pharmaceutically- assisted moments as they struggle to breathe their last,” Defensor and Marcoleta pointed out.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health (DoH) has yet to register Ivermectin drug in the country for human use.

But FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said that people can use Ivermectin through doctor’s prescription and assistance of licensed compounding laboratories and pharmacies and through doctors and hospitals that got compassionate special permit (CSP).

In cooperation with Lifecore Bio-Integrative, Inc., the Malayang Quezon City and the Concerned Doctors and Citizens- Phils (CDC-PH), Anakalusugan and Sagip party-list groups, Defensor said the “INVERMECTIN PAN-THREE” initiative will go to other barangays in Quezon City after this Thursday’s formal launching at the Matandang Balara Hall Park.

“Let us all take the crucial step to help the government in rolling out this herculean task. From this symbolic event, we will continue the distribution of Ivermectin by giving access to the poorest of the poor, e.g., Brgys New Era, Commonwealth and Holy Spirit, etc. who cannot afford the financial burden of hospitalization and prolonged medication. Quezon City remains to have the highest number of COVID cases in NCR (National Capital Region) at 87,727 and counting. God bless our country,” Defensor said.

Marcoleta and Defensor said they decided to push through with their initiative after the inquiries conducted by the House committees on health and on good government and public accountability where both foreign and local experts were engaged on the potential use of Ivermectin.

“We have decisively come to a critical decision to distribute Ivermectin to those who are in dire need of this drug. To equate both the sense of urgency and our inherent trait of community sharing, this spontaneous and direct assistance will be called “IVERMECTIN PAN-THREE”, with each beneficiary getting a minimum of three (3) capsules/tablet free of charge,” Marcoleta and Defensor said.

“In the zoom hearings, we intently listened to Dr. Pierre Kory, a resident Fellow in critical care and pulmonary medicine at Weil Cornell School of Medicine, Dra. Tessie Lawrie, Systematic Reviewer and Director of Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy in UK, and to a group of local medical doctors like Dr. Allan Landrito, Dr. Benigno Agbayani, Jr., Dr. Homer Lim, and Dra. Godofreda Dalmacion, Epedemiologist and former Professor of UP- PGH, to name a few,” they said.

From the experts’ collective testimony, Marcoleta and Defensor said Ivermectin had been widely used to treat a variety of human parasites since its introduction in 1981 and since then, is being taken along with vitamins C and D, melatonin, zinc, among others, including steroids for the elderly and asthmatic patients; it has undergone invitro studies effectively killing COVID-19 virus and was found to cure bacterial infection for pneumonia; it has anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties; an estimated 3.5 billion doses have been administered to cure river blindness in Africa in the last 40 years with only 16 reported deaths; recent independent analysis of 26 randomized clinical trials and observational controlled trials showed that Ivermectin is remarkably effective for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19; the British Ivermectin Recommendation Board (BIRD) has now advised the roll out of Ivermectin for the prevention and early treatment of COVID-19; it is now recognized and widely used against COVID-19 in South Africa, Slovakia, Panama, Peru, in parts of India and Mexico, and Czech Republic; it is now prescribed by doctors in the US, Australia, and Canada as off- label use for COVID-19 patients; and it is now included in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines.

Marcoleta and Defensor also said “we are also aware that the Philippine American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE) conducted an online survey on Ivermectin and that out of 553 medical doctors who participated, there were more medical doctors who favored the use of Ivermectin for prevention and treatment than those who opposed or are undecided.”

On success rate, Marcoleta and Defensor said Dr. Landrito and Dr. Lim testified that they respectively administered Ivermectin to some 8,000 patients whose conditions all improved and 90% of them did not need to be hospitalized.

DOH ASKED TO ACT ON IVERMECTIN

Defensor and Marcoleta hit the slow action of the DoH and FDA in looking at Ivermectin as possible treatment for COVID-19.

“On the other hand, despite the declared policy to protect and promote the right to health of the people, we observed the complacency, if not indifference, of DOH and FDA officials in regard to the potential use of Ivermectin as a preventive drug or early treatment for COVID-19 patients,” Defensor and Marcoleta said.

“Time and again, they are dismissive of the avalanche of clinical trials that have unfolded before their very eyes, unyielding to bend and improvise the guidelines and policies that apply only during normal times. The have stonewalled and become too unwilling to compromise and be flexible in the face of the great necessity to save lives,” they said.