4.1. Therapeutic indications

• Treatment of gastrointestinal strongyloidiasis (anguillulosis).

• Treatment of suspected or diagnosed microfilaraemia in patients with lymphatic filariasis due to Wuchereria bancrofti.

• Treatment of human sarcoptic scabies. Treatment is justified when the diagnosis of scabies has been established clinically and/or by parasitological examination. Without formal diagnosis treatment is not justified in case of pruritus.

Official guidelines should be taken into consideration. Official guidelines will normally include WHO and public health authorities' guidelines.

4.2. Posology and method of administration

Posology

Treatment of gastrointestinal strongyloidiasis

The recommended dosage is one single oral dose of 200 micrograms of ivermectin per kg body weight.

For guidance, the dose, as determined by the patient's weight, is as follows:

BODY WEIGHT (kg)

DOSE (number of 3 mg tablets)

15 to 24

one

25 to 35

two

36 to 50

three

51 to 65

four

66 to 79

five

≥ 80

six

Treatment of microfilaraemia caused by Wuchereria bancrofti

The recommended dosage for mass distribution for the treatment of microfilaraemia caused by Wuchereria bancrofti is a single oral dose once every 6 months designed to provide approximately 150 to 200 μg/kg of body weight.

In endemic areas where treatment can only be administered once every 12 months, the recommended dosage is 300 to 400 μg/kg of body weight to maintain adequate suppression of microfilaraemia in treated patients.

For guidance, the dose, as determined by the patient's weight, is as follows:

BODY WEIGHT

(kg)

DOSE when given once every 6 months

(number of 3 mg tablets)

DOSE when given once every 12 months

(number of 3 mg tablets)

15 to 25

one

two

26 to 44

two

four

45 to 64

three

six

65 to 84

four

eight

Alternatively and if no scales are available, the dose of ivermectin for use in mass chemotherapy campaigns may be determined by the patient's height as follows:

HEIGHT

(cm)

DOSE when given once every 6 months

(number of 3 mg tablets)

DOSE when given once every 12 months

(number of 3 mg tablets)

90 to 119

one

two

120 to 140

two

four

141 to 158

three

six

> 158

four

eight

Treatment of human sarcoptic scabies

The recommended dosage is a single oral dose to provide ivermectin 200 μg/kg body weight.

Common scabies:

Recovery will be considered as definite only after 4 weeks of the treatment. Persistence of pruritus or scraping lesions does not justify a second treatment before

this date.

Administration of a second dose within 2 weeks after the initial dose should only be considered:

a) when new specific lesions occur,

b) when the parasitologic examination is positive at this date.

Profuse and crusting scabies:

In these heavily infected forms, a second dose within 8 to 15 days of ivermectin and/or concomitant topical therapy may be necessary to obtain recovery.

Note for patients treated for scabies

Contact persons, especially family members and partners, should undergo a medical examination as soon as possible, and if necessary should be given prompt antiscabies treatment.

Hygienic measures to prevent reinfection should be taken into account (i. e. keeping fingernails short and clean) and official recommendations regarding the cleaning of clothing and bedding should be closely followed.

Paediatric population

For all indications, safety in paediatric patients weighing less than 15 kg of body weight has not been established.

Elderly patients

Clinical studies with ivermectin did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 years and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger patients. In general, treatment of an elderly patient should be cautious, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy.

Method of administration

Oral route.

Treatment is one single oral dose taken with water on an empty stomach.

The dose may be taken at any time of the day, but no food should be taken within two hours before or after administration, as the influence of food on absorption is unknown.

In children less than 6 years of age and weighing at least 15 kg, tablets should be crushed before swallowing.

4.3. Contraindications

Hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients listed in section 6.1.

4.4. Special warnings and precautions for use

Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs)

Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), which can be life-threatening or fatal, have been reported in association with ivermectin treatment (see section 4.8).

At the time of prescription patients should be advised of the signs and symptoms and monitored closely for skin reactions. If signs and symptoms suggestive of these reactions appear, ivermectin should be withdrawn immediately and an alternative treatment considered. If the patient has developed a severe cutaneous adverse reaction such as SJS or TEN with the use of ivermectin, treatment with ivermectin must not be restarted at any time.

Efficacy and dosing regimen of ivermectin in immunocompromised patients being treated for intestinal strongyloidiasis have not been established by adequate clinical studies. There have been reported cases which show the persistence of infestation following a single dose of ivermectin, particularly in this type of patients.

Ivermectin is not a prophylactic therapy of infection with filariae or anguillulosis; there are no data available demonstrating the efficacy of ivermectin, either for killing or preventing the maturation of infective larvae in humans.

Ivermectin has not been shown to have any activity against the adult worm of any species of filariae.

Ivermectin has not been shown to have any beneficial effect on tropical pulmonary eosinophilia syndrome, on lymphadenitis or lymphangitis observed in case of infection with filariae.

Following administration of ivermectin, the intensity and severity of adverse experiences are probably related to the pretreatment microfilarial density particularly in the blood. In patients co-infected with Loa loa, microfilarial density, particularly in the blood, is most often high which predisposes the treated patients to an increased risk in the occurrence of serious adverse experiences.

CNS adverse experiences (encephalopathies) have been rarely reported in patients treated with ivermectin and co-infected by a high number of microfilariae of Loa loa. Consequently, in Loa loa endemic areas, special measures should be taken before any treatment with ivermectin (see section 4.8).

Neurological toxicity, including depressed level of consciousness and coma, has also been reported in patients with the use of ivermectin in the absence of Loa loa infection. These events have generally resolved with supportive care and the discontinuation of ivermectin (see sections 4.8 and 4.9).

Concomitant treatment with diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) and ivermectin in mass chemotherapy campaigns for filariasis caused by Wuchereria Bancrofti in Africa is not recommended. Co-infection with other microfilariae, such as Loa loa may result in high microfilaraemia in patients infected.

Systemic exposure to DEC in such patients may result in the occurrence of serious side effects related to the rapid and effective microfilaricidal effects of this drug.

Following administration of drugs with a rapid microfilaricidal action such as DEC in patients with onchocerciasis, cutaneous and/or systemic reactions of varying severity (the Mazzotti reaction), and ophthalmological reactions have been reported.

These reactions are probably due to inflammatory responses to degradation products released following the death of microfilariae.

Patients treated with ivermectin for onchoceriasis may also experience these reactions when treated for the first time. After treatment with a microfilaricidal drug, patients with hyperreactive onchodermatitis or “Sowda” (observed particularly in Yemen) may be more likely than others to experience severe cutaneous adverse reactions (oedema and aggravation of onchodermatitis).

In the absence of convincing evidence of efficacy (and safety) for use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 it is strongly recommended that ivermectin is not used for the treatment of patients with or suspected to be infected with SARS-COV2 as this may lead to a delay in diagnosis and /or receiving appropriate treatment for COVID-19. The extent and risks of such use will be monitored as part of the risk management plan.

Paediatric population

Safety in paediatric patients weighing less than 15 kg of body weight has not been established.

4.5. Interaction with other medicinal products and other forms of interaction

No interaction studies have been performed.

4.6. Fertility, pregnancy and lactation

Pregnancy

During mass treatment of onchocerciasis, data on a limited number (approximately 300) of pregnant women indicated no adverse effects such as congenital anomalies, spontaneous abortions, stillbirths and infant mortality which might be associated with ivermectin treatment during the first trimester of pregnancy. To date, no other epidemiological data are available.

Animal studies have shown reproductive toxicity (see section 5.3); however, the predictive value of these observations has not been established.

Ivermectin should only be used when strictly indicated.

Breast-feeding

Less than 2% of the administered dose of ivermectin appears in breast milk.

Safety in newborn infants has not been established: therefore, the drug should be given to nursing mothers only if the benefit to the mother outweighs the potential risk to the breast-fed infant, and treatment of mothers who intend to breast feed their infants should be delayed until 1 week after birth of the child.

Fertility

Ivermectin had no adverse effects on the fertility in rats up to 3 times the maximum recommended human dose of 200 μg/kg (on a mg/m²/d basis).

4.7. Effects on ability to drive and use machines

The effect of ivermectin on the ability to drive and use machines has not been studied. The possibility in some patients of side effects such as dizziness, somnolence, vertigo and tremor, which may affect the ability to drive or use machines, cannot be excluded (see section 4.8).

4.8. Undesirable effects

Transient hypereosinophilia, liver dysfunction including acute hepatitis, increased liver enzymes, hyperbilirubinemia and haematuria have been reported.

Very rarely, toxic epidermal necrolysis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome have also been reported.

Neurological toxicity, including depressed level of consciousness and coma, has been reported (see sections 4.4 and 4.9).

Side effects are related to the parasite density and are mild and transient in the majority of cases, but their severity may be increased in patients infected with more than one parasite, particularly in the case of infestation with Loa loa.

Rarely, severe and potentially fatal cases of encephalopathy have been described following administration of ivermectin, particularly in patients also heavily infected with Loa loa. In these patients, the following adverse reactions have also been reported: back or neck pain, ocular hyperaemia, subconjunctival haemorrhage, dyspnoea, urinary and/or faecal incontinence, difficulty in standing/walking, mental status changes, confusion, lethargy, stupor or coma (see section 4.4).

In patients receiving ivermectin for the treatment of strongyloidiasis, the following adverse reactions have been reported: asthenia, abdominal pain, anorexia, constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, somnolence, vertigo, tremor, transient hypereosinophilia, leukopenia/anaemia and increase in ALAT/alkaline phosphatases. In the treatment of Wuchereria bancrofti filariasis, the intensity of undesirable effects does not seem to be dose-dependent but is related to the microfilarial density in blood. The following have been described: fever, headache, asthenia, feeling of weakness, myalgia, arthralgia, diffuse pain, digestive disorders such as anorexia, nausea, abdominal and epigastric pain, cough, feeling of respiratory discomfort, sore throat, orthostatic hypotension, chills, vertigo, profuse sweating, testicular pain or feeling of discomfort.

Following administration of ivermectin in patients infected with Onchocerca volvulus, the hypersensitivity reactions observed resulting from microfilarial death pertain to Mazzotti-type reactions: pruritus, urticarial rash, conjunctivitis, arthralgia, myalgia (including abdominal myalgia), fever, oedema, lymphadenitis, adenopathies, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, orthostatic hypotension, vertigo, tachycardia, asthenia, headache. Rarely, these symptoms have been severe. A few cases of asthma exacerbation have been described. In these patients, abnormal sensation in the eyes, eyelid oedema, anterior uveitis, conjunctivitis, limbitis, keratitis and chorioretinitis or choroiditis have also been described. These manifestations, which may be due to the disease itself, have also been described occasionally after treatment. They were rarely severe and generally resolved without corticosteroid treatment.

Onset of conjunctival haemorrhage has been reported in patients with onchocerciasis. Observations of adult Ascaris expulsion have been described following ingestion of ivermectin. In patients with scabies, transient exacerbation of pruritus may be observed at the start of treatment.

Reporting of suspected adverse reactions

Reporting suspected adverse reactions after authorisation of the medicinal product is important. It allows continued monitoring of the benefit/risk balance of the medicinal product. Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse reactions via the Yellow Card Scheme Website: www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard or search for MHRA Yellow Card in the Google Play or Apple App Store

4.9. Overdose

It is important to adhere to recommended dosages. Cases of depressed level of consciousness and coma have been reported with overdosage of ivermectin.

Cases of accidental overdose with ivermectin have been reported, but none have resulted in fatalities. In cases of accidental intoxication with unknown doses of products destined for veterinary use (oral use, as an injection, cutaneous use), the symptoms described were: rash, contact dermatitis, oedema, headache, vertigo, asthenia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Other effects have also been observed, including: seizures, ataxia, dyspnoea, paraesthesia and urticaria.

Management in case of accidental intoxication:

• Symptomatic treatment and surveillance in a medical care setting with fluid replacement and hypertensive treatment, if necessary. Although there are no specific studies available, it is advisable to avoid combination of GABA agonists in the treatment of accidental intoxication due to ivermectin.