Ivermectin Doesn’t Work Against Mild COVID-19, Study Finds

Merck’s anti-parasitic drug Stromectol (ivermectin) did not help speed recovery in patients with mild COVID-19, researchers in Cali, Colombia, found in a small clinical trial.

In the randomized trial of 476 participants, the duration of symptoms “was not significantly different” for patients who received a five-day course of ivermectin compared with placebo, said the study’s lead author Eduardo López-Medina of Colombia’s Centro de Estudios en Infectología Pediátrica in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The trial was conducted at a single site in Cali with patients enrolled from July 15 to Nov. 30, 2020. The primary outcome was time to resolution of symptoms within 21-days.

The median time to resolution of symptoms was 10 days in the ivermectin group compared with 12 days in the placebo group, the team said. By day 21, 82 percent in the ivermectin group and 79 percent in the placebo group had resolved symptoms. The most common serious adverse event was multiorgan failure, occurring in four patients — two in each group.

“The findings do not support the use of ivermectin for treatment of mild COVID-19, although larger trials may be needed to understand effects on other clinically relevant outcomes,” said López-Medina.

Ivermectin has been shown in in vitro studies to inhibit the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but the dose needed to produce the same effect in patients may prove to be too large to justify the potential side effects.

Asked for comment on the latest study, a Merck spokesperson pointed to the company's statement last month warning against the drug’s use for COVID-19 (DID, Feb. 8).

Read the study report here: bit.ly/2PyR3Bb. — Martin Berman-Gorvine