Ivermectin–Widely Used To Treat Covid-19 Despite Being Unproven–Is Being Studied In The U.K. As A Potential Treatment

The University of Oxford announced Wednesday it is investigating antiparasitic drug ivermectin as a possible treatment for Covid-19, a trial that could finally resolve questions over the controversial medicine which has been widely promoted around the world despite warnings from regulators and a lack of data supporting its use.

KEY FACTS
Ivermectin will be assessed as part of the U.K. government-backed Principle study, which assesses non-hospital treatments against Covid-19 and is a large-scale randomized control trial widely considered the “gold standard” in evaluating a medicine’s effectiveness.

While studies have shown ivermectin to inhibit virus replication in a lab, studies in people have been more limited and have not conclusively demonstrated the drug’s effectiveness or safety for the purpose of treating Covid-19.

The medicine has a good safety profile and is used widely around the world to treat parasitic infections like river blindness.

Professor Chris Butler, one of the study’s lead investigators, said the group hopes “to generate robust evidence to determine how effective the treatment is against Covid-19, and whether there are benefits or harms associated with its use.”

Ivermectin is the seventh treatment to be tested in the Principle trial, two of which—the antibiotics azithromycin and doxycycline—were found to be generally ineffective in January and one—an inhaled steroid, budesonide—was found to be effective at reducing recovery time in April.

CRUCIAL QUOTE
Dr. Stephen Griffin, an associate professor at the University of Leeds, said the trial should finally provide an answer to questions over whether ivermectin should be used as a drug targeting Covid-19. “Much like hydroxychloroquine before, there has been a considerable amount of off-label use of this drug,” primarily based on studies of the virus in laboratory settings, not people, and using safety data from its widespread use as an antiparasitic, where much lower doses are normally used. Griffin added: “The danger with such off-label use is that… the drug becomes driven by specific interest groups or proponents of non-conventional treatments and becomes politicized.” The Principle study should help “resolve ongoing controversy,” Griffin said.

KEY BACKGROUND

Ivermectin is an inexpensive and readily available drug that has been used to treat parasitic infections in people and livestock for decades. Despite a lack of proof that it is safe or effective against Covid-19, the oft-touted wonder drug—for which its discoverers were awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology—quickly gained status as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 and was embraced around the world, particularly in Latin America, South Africa, the Philippines and India. However, leading medical regulators—including the World Health Organization, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency—do not support its use as a treatment for Covid-19 outside of trials.