Dr. Rhonda Patrick on ivermectin: what the evidence says · JRE #1701
SUBJECT: IVERMECTIN
The short answer
Rhonda Patrick states no clinical trial in human history has ever shown a treatment to be 99% effective, in the context of dismissing an ivermectin claim. This is factually incorrect: at least one major randomized controlled trial has reported efficacy at or above that threshold.
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
you can't say something's 99 like no clinical trial known to human history has ever shown something 99 effective
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Patrick asserted that no clinical trial in human history has ever demonstrated a treatment to be 99% effective. This is factually incorrect: at least one major randomized controlled trial has reported efficacy at or above that threshold. The 2002 New England Journal of Medicine trial of the HPV-16 vaccine (Koutsky et al.) found 100% efficacy (95% CI, 90-100; P<0.001) against persistent HPV-16 infection in young women, with 0 cases in the vaccine group versus 3.8 per 100 woman-years in the placebo group. Patrick's broader point, that a 99% efficacy figure for ivermectin against COVID-19 was implausible and inconsistent with how clinical trial data are typically reported, is a reasonable general skepticism, but her categorical statement that no trial has ever reported such high efficacy is not accurate.