After the numerous discussions about ivermectin, a large study has now looked at whether the drug is effective against Covid-19. The result is clear.
10:41 am on April 1, 2022
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Much discussed: Ivermectin © HJBC – stock.adobe.com
what the drug ivermectin definitely does not help against Covid-19, has now been confirmed by a large study from Brazil. The not renowned”New England Journal of MedicineThe published study concludes that the anthelmintic is clinically ineffective – both in terms of risk of hospitalization and length of stay or recovery from infection.
Some popularity gained ivermectin, which in humans about against certain roundworms and scabies mites can be used, most recently among those who oppose vaccination. They saw the drug as a miracle cure in the pandemic. In some countries, a run in pharmacies reported. The hype was fueled by dubious websites that referred to supposedly promising results, especially from smaller studies – whose quality and overall validity, experts said, were sometimes questionable.
in the now published double blind study Neither the physicians nor the randomly assigned patients knew who had received the anthelmintic and who had received a sham (placebo) preparation. The more than 3500 participants had an increased risk of a severe course of Covid because of their age or previous illnesses. 679 of them received ivermectin, just as many received placebo, the remaining nearly 2,160 patients were treated differently.
“No drug effect!” tweeted the director of the intensive care clinic at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Stefan Kluge, with regard to the study. The Infection Immunologist Leif Eric Sander from the Berlin Charité also reacted to the result on Twitter: “This should be the end of the matter.”
Large study of ivermectin administration in COVID-19. No drug effects! There was a lot of discussion about this drug and it was also administered in part (no evidence) in Germany. https://t.co/qU5xDXdQgU
— Stefan Kluge (@StefanKluge4) March 31, 2022
already came in the past meta-analyses, which summarized individual studies and laboratory experiments, did not come to any clear conclusions about a supposed benefit of ivermectin. The World Health Organization (WHO), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are still speaking out against the use of the drug in the pandemic. In the wrong dosage, the drug can be highly toxic.
in Austria even advised the MSD manufacturer (Merck Sharp & Dohme) of unauthorized income: “There is no significant evidence for the use of ivermectin in Sars-CoV-2,” the company announced in November.