1 September 2021
Annie Weston
Via email: [FYI request #16515 email]
Dear Annie
Request for information: Scientific evidence reviewed for the use of ivermectin for the
prevention and/or treatment of COVID-19
Thank you for your request dated 26 August 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA)
for information relating to ivermectin for the prevention and/or treatment of COVID-19. You
requested:
Please can you provide me with the scientific evidence and any corresponding back-up
data you used in your decision to restrict this drug for the prevention and/or treatment of
Covid-19 in New Zealand.
Pharmac has not yet considered funding ivermectin for the prevention and/or treatment of SARS-
CoV-2 (COVID-19). Therefore, we have declined your request as we do not hold any information
used to inform a decision about using ivermectin for COVID-19 (section 18(g)(i) of the OIA).
Please note you have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(3) of the OIA to an
Ombudsman, to seek an investigation and review of our decision.
We remain open to considering an application for funding ivermectin for COVID-19. Please refer
to our website for details on how to make a funding application: www.pharmac.govt.nz > Medicine
funding and supply > Make an application > Make a funding application
It is important to note that COVID-19 is not an approved indication for the use of ivermectin,
according to the Medsafe datasheet. Approval of certain indications is important to ensure
medicine safety and efficacy. For further information about licensed indications, please visit the
Medsafe
website: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/regulatory/ProductDetail.asp?ID=11299
Ivermectin has been funded since 2012 for scabies, filaricides, cutaneous larva migrans (creeping
eruption) or strongyloidiasis. Full details of the funding restrictions for ivermectin are available
within the Special Authority form in the Online Pharmaceutical Schedule: www.pharmac.govt.nz >
Community Schedule > Search: ivermectin > SA1225 – Ivermectin
We trust that this information answers your queries. Please get in touch with us if you have any
questions about this.
Yours sincerely
Rachel Read
Manager, Policy and Government Services
2021-22-025; A1523731
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