The University of Virginia (UVA) is conducting a test to see if the famous parasite drug ivermectin can actually cure COVID-19.
Ivermectin has become a common name in the United States after it was falsely advertised by some conservative and vaccine advocates as a potential treatment for Covid.
Often called “horse deworming agent”, the medicine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use by humans in the treatment of parasite-related conditions, but is not considered to have antiviral properties.
The UVA team will test the drug together with fluvoxamine, a depression drugs that some also speculate may cure the virus.
The researchers say their goal with this study is potentially to fill the gaps left by the limited supply of some Covid treatments.
UVA researchers conducted a study with 15,000 people to determine whether ivermectin was effective in treating Covid’s symptoms. Previous surveys conducted elsewhere have found that it is not, despite rumors on social media (file photo)
Paxlovid is effective against the virus, but the drug is in short supply worldwide, leading many to look for potential alternatives while Pfizer solves production problems.
“While we have some great new drugs for COVID-19 in outpatients, supplies are limited and it is still important to find potential new treatments,” said Dr. Patrick Jackson, who led the study. WTOP.
“Because the drugs we study are cheap and widely available, they could have a huge global impact if we find them effective in treating COVID.”
The study will include 15,000 people, all over the age of 30 who have tested positive for the virus in the past ten days.
Previous studies of this type have already refuted the idea that ivermectin is effective in the treatment of Covid. Malaysian study joined the ranks last week, indicating that the drug had no effect on 490 patients with Covid.
The source of claims that ivermectin can cure the virus is a legitimate, peer-reviewed, Australian study that shows that the drug can inhibit virus replication in the laboratory.
The doses used in the study were so concentrated that they would not be safe for human use, and the findings were reproduced only in the laboratory and not in humans.
“In this study, they showed that ivermectin can inhibit cell cultures [Covid] replication, but the concentrations required for this effect were in a range called the micromolar range – very high concentrations compared to what you would find in the plasma of a treated person or animal, which would be 20 to 50 times lower, “said Dr. Timothy Geary, a leading expert on parasites at McGill University in Montreal, told DailyMail.com when the drug first became known in August.
“At high concentrations in cell culture, many compounds can have all sorts of effects, but when you look at what we would call pharmacological levels – what we actually see and treat patients with – it’s much higher than [what would be used in humans]
“So the standard doses of ivermectin we use for humans will never reach levels that would be effective against the virus based on this one study.”
However, repeated warnings from healthcare professionals not to abuse the drug to treat the virus remain unheeded.
Some prominent non-experts have also advertised the anti-parasite drug in recent months, such as podcast Joe Rogan and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
There are several drugs that actually do what some believe ivermectin does.
Merck, who also developed ivermectin, introduced molnupiravir, a pill that a person can take when infected with Covid to reduce the chance of hospitalization or death from the virus.
There are some concerns that the way the drug works may accidentally trigger a mutation in new variants of Covid, but some doctors are reluctant to use it.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid is considered the gold standard for Covid antiviral pills, although the company is struggling with production, which has led to shortages in much of the world.
Monoclonal antibodies are also effective treatments after infection, but the Omicron variant has managed to avoid some of the available treatments and, even when effective, is very resource-intensive.
As a result, delivering these drugs to poorer and less resourceful nations in the developing world can be a challenge.