Indonesia: ivermectin, object of financial profits and political lobby
Ivermectin is a medicine used to kill worms and other parasites for use in horses.
AP - Ted S. Warren
Text by: Gabrielle Maréchaux Follow
4 min
All around the world, ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug mainly used for animals, is finding advocates who claim, without any convincing scientific evidence, that it is a treatment to be used against the coronavirus.
Indonesia is not exempt from this dangerous trend, which even appears to be a possible financial windfall and has supporters right up to the very top of the state.
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From our regional correspondent
,
It is a so-called miracle cure which is interfering more and more like a ready-made solution against the Covid-19, in the middle of a management of the still very chaotic pandemic;
whether at the level of official figures, which would, according to a majority of experts, be multiplied by at least three to approach the real number of Covid cases in the country, or the
vaccination campaign
, invaded doubts about the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine, actions taken by the indonesian government arouse some skepticism in the fourth most populous country in the world.
Self-medication, a widespread practice in Indonesia
In the midst of this climate of uncertainty, the idea of an inexpensive and accessible miracle cure seduced and took various forms, whether it was a craze for the alleged benefits of
eucalyptus
, or even
Nestlé milk cartons
( which would have seen their sales increase by 455%, reports the
BBC
).
An attitude that can also be explained, recalls the epidemiologist Dicky Budiman, by the practice of self-medication very widespread in the country, long before the pandemic.
“
The majority of Indonesians, almost 70% when they are sick, take care of themselves, do not go to the hospital or to a doctor.
That's why when they heard about ivermectin, they rushed out.
You should also know that in Indonesia, pharmaceuticals are not very regulated, anyone can buy drugs, even antibiotics, without prescription
”.
A financial windfall
And if ivermectin is therefore now the subject of much interest, it is also financial. First, because in the face of growing demand and waves of panic purchases, online price inflation was not long in coming. The
Jakarta Post
thus reported having seen on the Internet the strip of ten tablets reaching 35 euros, and this Thursday, September 23, it was still possible to find on the
Market Place
, a strip sold by an individual for 30 euros.
But if certain opportunists are thus making their online butter on this craze for ivermectin, much more profitable financial interests are also at stake. A
laboratory
thus announced in July that it would produce nearly 14 million tablets in two months.
With a price set between 7.14 euros and 9.15 euros per box of 20 stamps, this production would therefore bring in around 5 million euros.
But if the sale of ivermectin is indeed authorized, it is only as an
anthelmintic
, and at the beginning of July the production of the PH Harpen laboratory is put on hold by the National Medicines Control Agency which in passing notes several breaches in the manufacturing.
Conflict of interest in shambles
Another point that concerns, links between the laboratory PH Harpen and officials and politicians promoting ivermectin were quickly raised.
Until the head of the presidential cabinet, Moeldoko, who has not heard a green light from the national health authorities to
distribute ivermectin
.
In
a report
, the NGO
Anti Corruption Watch Indonesia,
notes, it, common financial interests which would bind the family of Moeldoko and the people at the head of the laboratory PH Harpen.
Moeldoko's daughter would, for example, be the majority shareholder in a company owned by the vice-president of PH Harpen.
But these reconciliations raised by Anti-Corruption Watch did not please Moeldoko, who thus filed a complaint against the two authors of the report. Egi Primayogha is one of them; this recent lawsuit is anti-democratic for him. “
It's really unfortunate, because we only do our job as citizens and citizens, taxpayers, have the right to monitor public figures. It also shows the decline of democracy in Indonesia, ”he
reports.
An ongoing study is supposed to assess the possible benefits of ivermectin against Covid-19, before considering its use.
Anti-Corruption Watch recalls in this regard that the person supervising these clinical trials is a member of the Front Line Covid Critical Care, a pro-ivermectin doctor's organization based in the United States.
The branch of this group in Indonesia is chaired by none other than the vice-president of Laboratoires PT Harsen.
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