A new randomized control trial from the United Kingdom shows that using ivermectin during COVID-19 infections provided little improvement in recovery rates in patients treated in clinics. The study appeared in the Journal of Infection.
The anti-parasitic drug has been investigated since 2020 as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Some early trials suggested the drug was able to reduce mortality rates and improve outcomes, but several of them had serious flaws, the authors noted. Subsequent trials and systematic reviews have largely disproved those earlier results.
The present, open-arm study compared outcomes among8,811 SARS-CoV-2–positive participants (median symptom duration, 5 days), who were randomized to outpatient treatment with ivermectin (2,157), standard care (3,256), and other treatments (3,398) from June 23, 2021, to July 1, 2022. All participants were followed up for 28 days.
Slight increase in well-being at 6 months
The observed median time to first recovery was 14 days in the ivermectin group and 15 in the usual-care group. The authors said this result was statistically significant (hazard ratio 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 1.23), but the estimated hazard ratio was less than the pre-specified meaningful effect of 1.2.
Ivermectin also did not reduce the number of hospitalizations. Use of the drug, however, was associated with a slight increase in the proportion of participants feeling fully recovered at 3, 6 and 12 months. At 6 months, 74% of respondents in the ivermectin group and 71% in the usual care group reported feeling fully recovered from the original COVID-19 illness (rate ratio 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.08).
Overall, these findings, while evidencing a small benefit in symptom duration, do not support the use of ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19.
"Overall, these findings, while evidencing a small benefit in symptom duration, do not support the use of ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19 in the community among a largely vaccinated population at the dose and duration we used," the authors wrote.