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Reader: How is it a credible fact check to site the people who are in question? Pfizer has paid out billions of dollars to settle its fraudulent practices. Using their data that yet to be peer reviewed is in itself a very poor excuse for fact checking.
FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: Yes, we did quote Pfizer in our article. ["Merck, Pfizer COVID-19 Antivirals Different From Ivermectin," Oct. 15.] But we are not "using Pfizer information to fact check Pfizer." Science Editor Jessica McDonald, who is a trained immunologist, reviewed the evidence and interviewed infectious disease experts.
Let me explain our process: We saw that websites and social media users were making the claim that the Merck and Pfizer investigational antiviral pills are the same or “suspiciously similar” to ivermectin — the antiparasitic medication. The first thing Jessica did was review the evidence provided by social media users and websites who made this claim -- which Idaho state Rep. Tammy Nichols, among others, provided in an Instagram post: “Pfizer’s new oral antiviral is just a protease inhibitor just like Ivermectin. They’re literally repackaging ivermectin to sell to the masses with a new name.”
Many of these social media posts about the Pfizer and Merck antivirals directly share or draw on elements from articles published on ZeroHedge -- which cited as evidence a computational modeling paper published by some Indian scientists in March that, ZeroHedge said, showed ivermectin might act as a protease inhibitor. This alleged connection is made explicit in the ZeroHedge article and some social media posts with a graphic juxtaposing a Pfizer press release and the abstract of the Indian paper.
That paper, however, does not show that ivermectin acts as a protease inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 through any sort of biological experiment — it only proposes the possibility based on computer simulations.
Also, as Jessica writes, the Pfizer and Merck investigational drugs are not particularly similar to ivermectin, which she said is obvious when looking at the chemical formulas and structures of the compounds. Whereas ivermectin is made of just three kinds of atoms — carbon, hydrogen and oxygen — Pfizer’s drug also contains chlorine, nitrogen and sulfur; Merck’s drug also contains nitrogen, and its molecular weight is less than half that of ivermectin. Structurally, too, the drugs bear no resemblance.
Dr. David Boulware, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota, told Jessica: “Pfizer’s 3CL protease inhibitor is nothing like ivermectin."
One last thing: Studies to date have shown that the concentration of ivermectin that inhibits the coronavirus in a lab is much higher than that used in humans, making it unlikely that the drug works as an antiviral. That’s the "biggest difference" when comparing the Merck and Pfizer investigational drugs with ivermectin, Boulware said.
“While one could debate the exact mechanism of ivermectin, the biggest difference is that Pfizer’s protease inhibitor inhibits coronavirus at concentrations that are achievable in the human body,” Boulware said. “In the initial lab experiments, ivermectin required 50-100x the achievable concentrations in humans.”
And he should know. Boulware is an investigator on a clinical trial at the University of Minnesota evaluating ivermectin as an outpatient COVID-19 treatment.
So, no, we are not taking Pfizer's word for it. We review the evidence and talk to experts. That's what journalists do -- contrary to those who speculate on social media on subjects they know nothing about. Don't be fooled.
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