A drug used to treat lice can reduce the risk of death for hospitalized Covid patients by up to 80 percent, a study suggests.
Ivermectin, a prescription drug that can cost just £ 1.50 for a course of treatment, has also been found to halve the time that critically ill patients needed care.
Dr. Andrew Hill, a virologist at the University of Liverpool behind the analysis, said the drug could be “transformative” in the battle against the virus.
But other scientists are skeptical of the finding, saying more data will be needed before it can be used as a potential treatment.
They pointed out that other drugs, such as hydroxychloroquine and tocilizumab, were very promising in the first tests, just so that scientists discovered they were of no benefit.
The results of 11 studies suggest that ivermectin – used to treat lice – may help protect patients with coronavirus. Scientists have issued a note of caution, however, and said more research is needed
Hollow slides published before the study was released reveal that only eight of the 573 Covid-19 patients who received the drug died, compared with 44 of the 510 who did not receive it.
They also suggested that the drug could speed up the removal of the virus from the body. The Egyptian study involved 100 patients with moderate symptoms who received the drug and 100 with severe symptoms who received the drug. The same number was used for the control group. In the Bangladesh study, 72 patients with Covid-19 were involved
Ivermectin was discovered in the 1970s and quickly became an essential drug for a large number of parasitic infections, such as lice and scabies.
It is called Stromectol, an oral tablet for scabies and Soolantra, a skin cream for rosacea. It is called Sklice for the treatment of lice, which was approved in the United States this year.
Today it is prescribed in the NHS and the United States for these conditions, but some scientists argue that it can also be useful against Covid-19.
Scientists investigating the drug believe it works by paralyzing the SARS-CoV-2 virus and “overloading your nervous system” to prevent it from replicating.
In slides published before the study was launched next month, the scientists behind the research combined the results of 11 tests of the drug involving more than 1,400 patients.
This revealed that only eight Covid-19 patients out of 573 who received the drug died, compared with 44 out of 510 who received a placebo.
The time it took to get rid of the body’s virus was also faster when ivermectin was taken, two studies included in the research suggested.
In a test in Egypt, 100 patients with mild symptoms eliminated the virus in five days, on average, when they received the drug. For comparison, the number was about 10 days for 100 patients who did not receive the drug.
And in 100 patients battling severe symptoms, they removed Covid within six days when they received the drug, on average, compared with 12 days for the 100 control patients.
Similar results were also seen in a study in Bangladesh.
The studies were carried out mainly in developing countries – including Bangladesh, Argentina and Egypt – and the research was commissioned by the World Health Organization.
Patients received doses of ivermectin between 0.2 to 0.6 mg / kg, but in one study they reached 12 mg.
Initial analyzes suggest that the drug may help patients suffering from the virus, but scientists have still warned against these findings.
The compared studies used different doses of ivermectin, time intervals and differed in the way they treated their control groups.
Some were double-blind – the ‘gold standard’ – which means that no volunteers knew who was receiving the medication, and others were open, which means that the participants knew whether they were receiving the medication or a placebo.
“If we see these same trends seen consistently in more studies, then this is really going to be a transformational treatment,” said Dr. Hill in the presentation.
Trials involving over 7,100 participants are due to be published in the coming months, with three more to be launched in January.
The study collected data from 11 trials involving more than 1,400 patients, mainly in developing countries. It will be published next month. Above is the number of patients in the trials included in the study by country
The researchers said that more studies on ivermectin should be published in the coming months. Above is the number of participants in all trials involving ivermectin – published and in progress – by country
Ivermectin has been controversial in the scientific community, with some researchers seeing it as another ‘wonderful’ treatment.
The head of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, Professor Andrew McLachlan, said in August that there remained “enormous uncertainty” about whether the treatment was safe and effective in fighting coronavirus “despite favorable headlines”.
“All we have are observational studies and the opinions of doctors,” he said.
“Many of the current studies have a low number of participants, weak study designs and inconsistent (and relatively low) ivermectin dosing regimens, with ivermectin often administered in combination with other drugs. ‘
Side effects of the drug include swelling of the feet, constipation and inflammation in the eyes.
Many fear that it could follow the path of hydroxychloroquine, a drug against malaria, which the President of the United States, Donald Trump, pointed out as a game changer.
But leading scientists were quick to point out that the effectiveness of drugs against the virus had not yet been proven.
More recent studies have concluded that it does not help patients suffering from the virus.