One of the largest studies into the use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19 has found the controversial drug does not reduce the rate at which patients require hospitalisation for serious illness.
The study was co-led by Irish-born scientist Prof Ed Mills, who is based in Canada, and funded by the billionaire Collison brothers, founders of the digital payment firm Stripe.
The research, part of the largest placebo-controlled trial for Covid-19 treatments in the world, has so far evaluated 11 low-cost drugs and found two – fluvoxamine and peginterferon lambda – effective.
The evaluation of ivermectin involved 3,515 Covid patients in Brazil, who were given the drug, a placebo or another intervention.
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Overall, 100 patients in the ivermectin group had to be hospitalised or had to go to an emergency department, compared with 111 in the placebo group.
“Treatment with ivermectin did not result in a lower incidence of medical admission to a hospital due to the progression of Covid-19 or prolonged emergency department observation among outpatients with an early diagnosis of Covid-19,” the researchers concluded.
The drug, which is used to treat parasitic infections in humans and horses, has been widely touted as a cure for the disease despite little evidence of its efficacy. Last year Irish officials reported a 3,000 per cent increase in seizures of the drug.
Discordant results
More than 60 trials of ivermectin for the treatment of Covid have been started. Results have been “discordant”, according to this latest study, leading different groups to interpret them differently. “However, most trials have been small, and several have been withdrawn from publication owing to concerns about credibility.”
“The story of how ivermectin became such a divisive medicine is an example of the influence that social media has on every aspect of society, even medicine,” according to Prof Mills, who specialises in health research methods at McMaster University in Canada.
“There are a lot of people that got very sick and died still holding out hope that a medicine that was never well endorsed by any legitimate medical society would miraculously work.
“Large clinical trials are needed to answer important medical questions. Simply relying on laboratory research doesn’t answer important questions and answer them reliably.”
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.
