Covid-19 and ivermectin: SAHPRA reaches settlement with Afriforum
1 February 2021
A court challenge aimed at legalising the use of ivermectin in the treatment of Covid-19 — and giving doctors unfettered discretion on how to administer it — has been settled.
The North Gauteng High court application was launched by GP Dr George Coetzee, two of his patients, and Afriforum “in the public interest”. They claimed the drug — not registered in South Africa for human use — “may well be the wonder drug that can save the nation”.
And they wanted a judge to force the South Africa Health Product Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to declare it a “safe drug”, subject to it being properly administered by a medical practitioner.
SAHPRA did not file opposing papers. Instead, on Wednesday last week, it said it would approve individual applications, in terms of its section 21 process (named after section 21 of the Medicines Act), for its use “on compassionate grounds”.