Is Ivermectin for Covid-19 Based on Fraudulent Research?

A tale of what could be, if true, the most consequential medical fraud ever committed

Pictured: Not ivermectin, but it could be if stock photo websites had more pictures of specific drugs. Source: Pexels

Note: after writing this article, but before publication, the paper in question was retracted by the preprint server it is hosted on “due to ethical concerns”. Also, because I know people will say silly things, I have never been paid by any pharmaceutical companies, hold no interests in drugs of any kind, and am funded entirely by the Australian state and federal governments, as well as a bit of money that I get from locking my stories on Medium for you all to read. I have no financial interests in any Covid-19 drugs, and honestly would love it if ivermectin cured the disease because then the pandemic would be over — I could go back to writing about whether chili peppers can stop heart attacks and that’d be much more fun.

This is part 1in what appears to be a deep well of research issues underpinning the entire evidence-base for ivermectin and Covid-19. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

Before you read this long story of potential fraud, check out Jack Lawrence and Nick Brown’s investigations. They inform this story, and are referenced in it — I have touched the surface of the actual fraud itself, but there is so much more if you are…