It's not just about hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. Our government-medical establishment cartel is opposed to any and every known useful tool of pre-emptive, early, and late treatment for COVID, and it will be opposed to anything that comes out in the future. Put aside any preconceived notions about hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, which have already been slandered in the media. Let's pick a new drug that most people likely have never heard of: fenofibrate.
The government has already admitted that the vaccine efficacy is waning, vaccinated people are beginning to die of the virus, and we are in need of, at minimum, parallel solutions. In comes the Jerusalem Post earlier this week with a headline, "$15 drug gets COVID patients off oxygen support in under week – study." The outlet reports on an Israeli study showing 14 of 15 patients on oxygen were cured within a week after being given fenofibrate, a very cheap, safe, and effective FDA-approved drug commonly used for people with high cholesterol and designed to reduce triglycerides. There have been over 11 million prescriptions filled annually.
The trial tested the drug against the most common dangerous effect of COVID-19 – the cytokine storm that causes the hyper-inflammatory response in the lungs. "We know these kinds of patients deteriorate really fast, develop a cytokine storm in five to seven days and that it can take weeks to treat them and for them to get better," said Hebrew University Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, who carried out the study. "We gave these patients fenofibrate and the study shows inflammation dropped incredibly fast. They did not seem to develop a cytokine storm at all."
Given that in our hospitals, the medical establishment has failed to advance treatment one iota beyond the failed remdesivir and low-dose dexamethasone cocktail in a year and a half, the obvious question is why our government wouldn't jump on this lifesaving treatment that already has such a robust safety profile, much better than that of the vaccines. Well, it's the same reason our government and establishment refuse to endorse – and even restrict – dozens of other similar cheap, effective, and safe repurposed drugs.
However, the bigger question is whether this drug, like so many other proposed repurposed antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antihistamines, anti-coagulants, and androgen blockers, is so effective even at the late stage of illness, why not use it at the first sign of trouble, outpatient, when you can avoid hospitalization and suffering and have an even greater chance of it working to avoid the inflammatory reaction to begin with?
Well, there is already a study out on outpatient efficacy, and American doctors – the few who still care to save lives – have been treating people with fenofibrate outpatient, along with other drugs, with a great deal of success. Earlier this month, researchers from the U.K. and Italy published a study in the Frontiers in Pharmacology journal finding that the drug may be able to reduce infection – much less severe disease – by 70%.
"Our data indicates that fenofibrate may have the potential to reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and also virus spread," said co-author Dr. Elisa Vicenzi of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute. "Given that fenofibrate is an oral drug which is very cheap and available worldwide, together with its extensive history of clinical use and its good safety profile, our data has global implications."
Thus, one can make the argument, as is the case with ivermectin and nasal irrigation with a 1% Betadine solution, that not only are these cheap repurposed drugs lifesavers, but they do a much better job stopping the spread – something everyone agrees the vaccines have failed at.
Of course, the naysayers will suggest that the Israeli study sample size was too small and the European one was only a lab study. But the promising mechanisms of action of fenofibrate and other cholesterol drugs like atorvastatin have been known for months and have been successfully used by American doctors. Why has the NIH failed to conduct greater studies on this and dozens of other cheap drugs for a fraction of what was spent on the ineffective remdesivir?
The medical establishment is acting as if this is still March 2020, but the reality is that there are many American doctors who have already saved thousands of people with these safe, cheap, repurposed drugs for well over a year. One such doctor is Ryan Cole, a brilliant Mayo Clinic-trained pathologist and owner of the largest independent medical diagnostic lab in Idaho. He has been using fenofibrate along with ivermectin and several other therapeutics with perfect success. To him, the mechanism of action of this drug against COVID is particularly important.
"COVID appears to cause metabolic lung changes with accumulation of fats in the air sacs of the lungs," observed the pathologist, who has lived and breathed this virus for 18 months. "Those with buildup of these fats tended to have poorer outcomes. Fibrates break down the accumulation of these fats in the lungs and secondarily decrease the damaging cytokine levels in patients taking these medications. This decrease of cytokines would appear to thereby decrease the potential secondary lung fibrosis in those who suffer the severe pulmonary sequelae of COVID."
Cole also noted that fenofibrate also has antiviral qualities because it "bends/destabilizes and distorts the receptor binding domain of the spike protein and inhibits the virus' ability to attach to the ACE2 receptor. It appears in these lab studies to be effective against all variants. Observational reports from numerous colleagues report a shortening of the severity and length of the disease course when this commonly used medicine in North America, with an excellent safety record, is added to other early treatment protocol medications."
So why wouldn't the government jump on this and quickly commence more studies?
Cole continues: "Pending large trials under way, and based on observational data, mechanisms of action, and a strong safety record, it makes sense in the face of a quickly spreading variant to consider this medication as an additional tool in the armamentarium of early treatments to help doctors alleviate the severity of COVID in their patients."
Other doctors have been treating COVID for months with atorvastatin, a statin-based drug targeting high cholesterol. It is hands-down the most prescribed drug in America today. An analysis from UC San Diego Health of more than 10,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients across the country found that those using statins prior to infection were associated with a more than 40% reduction in in-hospital death and a greater than 25% reduction in the risk of developing a severe outcome.
One point that naysayers fail to understand is that nobody is suggesting that any one therapeutic is 100% effective all the time for everyone. Treatment for any ailment usually involves multi-drug cocktails. Thus, several of these over-the-counter and prescription drugs, plus supplements and vitamins, have a near 100% outcome for any doctor I've spoken to who actually uses them early on in the viral stage. One thing is certain: Zero outpatient treatment has 0% efficacy.
Thus, the beef the FDA and NIH have with these doctors is not with ivermectin alone, just like it wasn't about hydroxychloroquine. Their beef is with anything that works.
Just to give a small sample of what's being used with success that is backed by pathology and clinical studies, there are hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, fenofibrate, atorvastatin, famotidine, fluvoxamine, nitazoxanide, colchicine, budesonide, celecoxib, and multiple androgen blockers. For many, it's also appropriate to prescribe an antibiotic like azithromycin or doxycycline. Then there are solid over-the-counter supplements and medicines, such as aspirin, NAC, quercetin, melatonin, and curcumin that all have great data behind them, not to mention the full panel of vitamins (beginning with vitamin D) and zinc. Plus, there is amazing data behind doing regular nasal and oral rinses with a 1% Betadine solution, which has been proven to lower the risk of hospitalization 19-fold.
The key is to hit hard, hit early, and hit with a multi-pronged approach. Why has this been completely obstructed from 99% of COVID patients for well over a year? Isn't it time for a second opinion?