Researchers continue to study effectiveness of ivermectin for COVID-19

Researchers wanted to find out if ivermectin compared to placebo shortened symptom duration for adult patients in the United States with symptomatic mild to moderate COVID-19. According to results of the randomized clinical trial published in JAMA on October 21, 2022, the research team found that among outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19, treatment with ivermectin compared with placebo did not significantly improve time to recovery

The analysis included 1,591 U.S. adult outpatients age 30 years and older who had confirmed COVID-19 during the Delta and Omicron waves and presented with at least 2 symptoms of acute infection.

A total of 817 participants were randomly assigned to treatment with 400 mcg/kg of ivermectin while the remaining 774 participants received a placebo. The median time to recovery was 12 and 13 days, respectively, for the intervention and control groups. In addition to having no significant effect on symptom duration, ivermectin demonstrated no benefit over placebo for secondary endpoints, including hospital admission, mortality, or acute care visits.

"These findings do not support the use of ivermectin in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19," the study authors concluded.

Ivermectin is among the candidates explored as part of the ACTIV-6 trial, which aims to identify repurposed drugs that might effectively combat mild to moderate COVID-19.