In a trial of nearly 1,400 COVID-19 patients, those who received the antiparasitic drug Ivermectin didn’t fare better than those who received a placebo, reports Becker’s Hospital Review. The findings are awaiting publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
It’s the largest trial yet to evaluate the drug’s effect on the coronavirus. The findings were presented last week (Friday 18 March) at a forum sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Edward Mills, PhD, said one of the study’s lead researchers.
“There was no indication that Ivermectin was clinically useful,” said Mills, a professor of health sciences at Canada’s McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
The research involved 1,348 adults in Brazil who tested positive for COVID-19 and were all at risk of developing a severe case. Half of the patients were prescribed a course of Ivermectin pills for three days and the other half received a placebo. Mills and team looked at whether patients on Ivermectin were less likely to require hospitalisation, whether they cleared the virus faster, whether their symptoms resolved sooner, whether they were in the hospital or on ventilators for less time, and whether there was a difference in death rates between the cohorts.
Findings showed Ivermectin didn’t improve patient outcomes for any of these factors.
“This is the first large, prospective study that should really help put to rest Ivermectin and not give any credibility to the use of it for COVID-19,” said Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who reviewed the findings.
Ivermectin is primarily used to treat patients with certain parasitic diseases and has not been approved to treat any viral infections. The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has warned large doses of the drug are dangerous.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Withdrawn: Mexican Ivermectin paper claiming reduced COVID hospitalisation
Ivermectin meta-analyses highlighted, again, the dangers of fake data
Increased human use of veterinary Ivermectin reflected in Oregon Poison Centre calls
Ivermectin: Further claims of ‘serious errors or potential fraud’ in studies