The “Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance,” one of the leading groups promoting ivermectin, now lists a variety of backup drugs, including the anti-depressant Prozac and the anti-androgens spironolactone and dutasteride.
FLCCC has been recommending the alternative-alternative medications for some months, but the dubious advice went viral this week when
Twitter users spotted it on FLCCC’s newly updated treatment plan, and when the FLCCC’s leader
appeared on Fox News on Sunday to flog the new treatment.
The FLCCC did not return a request for comment.
Online, the FLCCC’s new recommendations raised eyebrows among people who already take those medications. Like ivermectin, which is used to fight parasitic infections, drugs like prozac are regularly prescribed for non-COVID purposes, like treating depression. But FLCCC’s recommended initial prozac dose of up to 40mg exceeds
Mayo Clinic recommendations of just 20mg for most new patients. (The Mayo Clinic
does recommend a higher dose for treating bulimia nervosa.) Oversight groups also warn new prozac patients to be on the lookout for
potentially severe side effects like suicidal thoughts.
Androgen suppressants, meanwhile, have a variety of uses, including treating hair loss and acne. They are also well known for their use in transgender health care,
Media Matters noted after the FLCCC promoted the drugs on Fox News this weekend. The FLCCC recommended COVID patients take 100mg of the anti-androgen spironolactone daily, which is
the Mayo Clinic’s recommended starting dose for feminizing hormone therapy. “This blocks male sex hormone (androgen) receptors and can suppress testosterone production,” the Mayo Clinic describes, although higher doses have been
described as safe in treating hair loss in cisgender women.
A different FLCCC document from October reveals that the group previously recommended 200mg of spironolactone per day, which is the highest starting dose recommended for feminizing hormone therapy.
In “severe” cases, the FLCCC recommends taking spironolactone alongside other anti-androgens, as well as ivermectin and prozac: a cocktail the group calls the “Full Monty.”