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More cheap potential Covid treatments, Ivermectin saves 50%

Coronavirus may leave a trail of benefits in its wake. Who knew that there were so many cheap antivirals around? Will people get fed up with the limited choices on offer next time there is a quarantine.

While newspapers in Australia were pretty keen to share the discovery of an antiviral role for HCQ, not so many were interested in the followup studies.

Ivermectin, like hydroxychloroquine is a kind of superdrug — in the sense of being in worldwide mass use.  Some 3.7 billion doses are estimated to have been given since its approval. It has been called the Japanese Wonder Drug. It’s the farm drench, a head lice treatment, and works against worm, mites and ticks too.

It was estimated to reduce viral loads in vitro massively but most people didn’t think it would work at lower safe doses. Then Bangladeshi doctors claim it was “astounding”. Last month US tests suggest that it reduced deaths by 40%. (Rajter)

These are all every priminary results.  More studies are promised for Ivermectin. Especially in Peru, where a grassroots movement of Doctors has ensured it will be used.

A US clinical trial of the drug ivermectin found that it reduced the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients by 40%.

This study was published in medRxiv and was led by Dr Jean-Jacques Rajter a physician at Broward Health Medical Center. The study assessed 280 coronavirus patients over the age of 18, with 173 being treated with the drug and 107 having standard care for the virus. The study found that overall mortality in those who took the treatment was 15% compared to those who did not take it, who had a 25% mortality rate. This would equate to a 40% drop overall.

US Trial Finds Drug Cuts Coronavirus Mortality 40%

David A Patten, NewsMax

The findings reported in Medrxiv, “ICON (Ivermectin in COVID-19) Study: Use of Ivermectin Is Associated With Lower Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19,” said that patients who took part in the trial were given a single dose of the anti-parasitic medication, and some received a second dose a week later.

The dose given the COVID-19 patients was the same as the FDA-approved dose used to treat patients with intestinal parasites.

Perhaps the study’s most impressive finding: The effect the drug had on 75 sick COVID-19 patients who were suffering from “severe pulmonary disease” – a very high-risk group.

Of patients in that group who did not receive ivermectin, 81% died. Yet the mortality rate for patients with severe pulmonary disease who did receive ivermectin was 39 percent.

A long review of Ivermectin last month said that it had several possible mechanisms, and “several studies reported antiviral effects”:

 Several studies reported antiviral effects of ivermectin on RNA viruses such as Zika, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, Hendra, Newcastle, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, chikungunya, Semliki Forest, Sindbis, Avian influenza A, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, Human immunodeficiency virus type 1, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus . — Heiary et al (2020)

Which suggests it may have a long future.

h/t Conan Kirton, and nb

REFERENCE

Rajter et al (2020) ICON (Ivermectin in COvid Nineteen) study: Use of Ivermectin is Associated with Lower Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID19, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.06.20124461

Heidary eta l (2020) Ivermectin: a systematic review from antiviral effects to COVID-9 complementary regimen, The Journal of Antibiotics

Caly, L. et al (2020) The FDA-approved Drug Ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitrohttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2020.104787   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41429-020-0336-z

 

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