Physicians in the Southern European nation of Portugal are increasingly divided in what is becoming a more tense debate as to the efficacy of the drug targeting at least the early stages of SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. While one group of doctors backs the growing data behind over 40 studies involving the anti-parasitic medication showing significant inhibition of the virus, another more conservative group counters that the studies in particular are not well enough designed. Reports out of Portugal show that a growing number of physicians are using the drug as prophylaxis targeting COVID-19. They caution that reports of safety issues involving the liver are misinformation campaigns. These doctors are going on the record that if the drug is administered in appropriate doses, the safety is solid and the efficacy strong. Note, however, depending on what legal jurisdiction one lives in impacts the amount of liberty involved with off label use of the drug for treating COVID-19. Still considered investigational and in the research stage in much of the world, at least a few Eastern European nations have authorized use of the drug for at least early mild onset of the coronavirus, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. The use of the drug off label is accepted in Czech Republic as well.
