In a display of its regulatory power, the TGA issued cease and desist notices this month to doctors at six medical practices.

They had apparently defied the watchdog’s ban on prescribing ivermectin off label and were offering it to patients as a COVID-19 treatment and prophylactic.

Globally, the allure of the cheap antiparasitic has captured the imaginations of not only clinicians but media personalities, politicians and alternative medicine gurus, including anti-vaxxers.

This list includes the Australian gastroenterologist Dr Thomas Borody, who has vigorously promoted his ‘triple therapy treatment’: a combination of ivermectin with doxycycline and zinc.