TY - JOUR
T1 - A five-day course of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 may reduce the duration of illness
AU - Ahmed, Sabeena
AU - Karim, Mohammad Mahbubul
AU - Ross, Allen G.
AU - Hossain, Mohammad Sharif
AU - Clemens, John D.
AU - Sumiya, Mariya Kibtiya
AU - Phru, Ching Swe
AU - Rahman, Mustafizur
AU - Zaman, Khalequ
AU - Somani, Jyoti
AU - Yasmin, Rubina
AU - Hasnat, Mohammad Abul
AU - Kabir, Ahmedul
AU - Aziz, Asma Binte
AU - Khan, Wasif Ali
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the hospital staff who helped to coordinate the trial and to the patients who participated. This research study was funded by B eximco Pharmaceutical Limited (BPL), Bangladesh. icddr,b acknowledges with gratitude the commitment of BPL to its research efforts. icddr,b is also grateful to the governments of Bangladesh, Canada, Sweden, and the UK for providing core/unrestricted support.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Beximco Pharmaceutical Limited, Bangladesh.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Ivermectin, a US Food and Drug
Administration-approved anti-parasitic agent, was found to inhibit
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication
in vitro. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was
conducted to determine the rapidity of viral clearance and safety of
ivermectin among adult SARS-CoV-2 patients. The trial included 72
hospitalized patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who were assigned to one of
three groups: oral ivermectin alone (12 mg once daily for 5 days), oral
ivermectin in combination with doxycycline (12 mg ivermectin single dose
and 200 mg doxycycline on day 1, followed by 100 mg every 12 h for the
next 4 days), and a placebo control group. Clinical symptoms of fever,
cough, and sore throat were comparable among the three groups.
Virological clearance was earlier in the 5-day ivermectin treatment arm
when compared to the placebo group (9.7 days vs 12.7 days; p = 0.02), but this was not the case for the ivermectin + doxycycline arm (11.5 days; p
= 0.27). There were no severe adverse drug events recorded in the
study. A 5-day course of ivermectin was found to be safe and effective
in treating adult patients with mild COVID-19. Larger trials will be
needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
AB - Ivermectin, a US Food and Drug
Administration-approved anti-parasitic agent, was found to inhibit
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication
in vitro. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was
conducted to determine the rapidity of viral clearance and safety of
ivermectin among adult SARS-CoV-2 patients. The trial included 72
hospitalized patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who were assigned to one of
three groups: oral ivermectin alone (12 mg once daily for 5 days), oral
ivermectin in combination with doxycycline (12 mg ivermectin single dose
and 200 mg doxycycline on day 1, followed by 100 mg every 12 h for the
next 4 days), and a placebo control group. Clinical symptoms of fever,
cough, and sore throat were comparable among the three groups.
Virological clearance was earlier in the 5-day ivermectin treatment arm
when compared to the placebo group (9.7 days vs 12.7 days; p = 0.02), but this was not the case for the ivermectin + doxycycline arm (11.5 days; p
= 0.27). There were no severe adverse drug events recorded in the
study. A 5-day course of ivermectin was found to be safe and effective
in treating adult patients with mild COVID-19. Larger trials will be
needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
KW - Bangladesh
KW - COVID-19
KW - Doxycycline
KW - Ivermectin
KW - SARS-CoV-2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098670112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85098670112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.11.191
DO - 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.11.191
M3 - Article
C2 - 33278625
AN - SCOPUS:85098670112
VL - 103
SP - 214
EP - 216
JO - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
SN - 1201-9712
ER -