The TGA is issuing fresh warnings to doctors prescribing ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 following a surge in scripts.

In July, a Cochrane review found there was no evidence to support the drug’s efficacy or safety for treating or preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, concluding the evidence base was made up of small studies, few of which were high quality.

Despite this, TGA figures given to Australian Doctor show that, during the past financial year, 12,950 PBS scripts were written by 3750 doctors for ivermectin 3mg tablets — a 15% increase on the year before.

The figures don’t include private scripts.