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September 27, 2022 – 7:00 PM
Kelowna’s Michel Lindstrom is right about one of his claims about ivermectin – his invention garnered a Nobel prize.
But his argument that it’s an effective treatment and cure for COVID-19 is strongly disputed by health agencies.
Lindstrom has distributed flyers to some Kelowna residents that say little about the drug, other than it’s the “2015 Nobel prize-winning anti-viral medicine” and how to order it by emailing him, calling himself “ivermectinguy.”
What he doesn’t say is that the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded, in part, to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.”
The report on the Nobel prize website goes on to say that of the drug they discovered, called avermectin, have “radically lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis” and parasitic derivatives derivatives that have plagued humankind for millennia, hitting the world’s poorest populations the hardest.
“Ivermectin has been authorized by Health Canada for human use, as a prescription antiparasitic drug for the treatment of parasitic worm infections,” Health Canada says on an October 2021 post on its website. “Recently, Health Canada became aware that ivermectin had been advertised in Canada for the treatment of COVID-19. It is illegal in Canada to sell or advertise a drug in a false, misleading or deceptive manner.
“There is no evidence that ivermectin works to prevent or treat COVID-19, and it is not authorized for this use. To date, Health Canada has not received any drug submission or applications for clinical trials for ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19.”
READ MORE: Invitations for COVID booster shots in BC go out this week
There were also increased reports to poison centers across Canada in the summer of 2021 concerning ivermectin, it says.
It’s also used to treat heartworm disease and certain parasites in animals.
While it may be illegal to sell or advertise in a misleading fashion, Health Canada said in an email to iNFOnews.ca, it’s up to provincial bodies, in this case the College of Pharmacists of BC, to deal with penalties for violating the rules.
The BC Pharmacy Association did not respond by publication time to requests for information.
While Lindstrom makes no claims in his flyer (as posted by a Reddit user) about the drug being effective against COVID, he was very clear in an email to iNFOnews.ca that he intended it as a medicine for COVID.
“I invested in ivermectin specifically to save lives for anyone suffering from COVID,” he wrote. “I’ve personally witnessed countless reports of all kinds of completely non-related diseases cured as well, which has been a pleasant surprise.”
He claims to have had a 100% success rate in treating people who have COVID with ivermectin.
He said he has had ivermectin for more than a year and has given most of it away.
“I determined from day one that I would never, under any circumstance, withhold this from anyone who needs it – period,” he wrote. “I simply refuse to carry that kind of weight on my conscience. Plus, nobody can accuse me of selling this medicine for financial gain as I have literally operated at a loss just to simply get this into public hands, selling it for a fraction of what a pharmacy would charge.”
He says the drug he’s selling is “human grade.”
“Where I got this from and how I’m able to sell this not as a pharmacist I’ll have to say: no comment,” he wrote. “While some may argue whether or not what I’m doing is lawful, I will continue to do what is right.”
— This story was updated at 2:50 pm Sept 29, 2022, after Health Canada clarified who is responsible for enforcing the rules in BC
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