Ivermectin ‘not clinically useful’ against Covid, study finds

Drug has become a cause celebre in parts of the vaccine-skeptical American right

Human-grade ivermectin prepared for distribution in the Philippines (EPA-EFE)

A study of hundreds of Covid-19 patients has found that the drug ivermectin, often touted by vaccine skeptics as an alternative treatment for the disease, does not in fact provide infection against hospitalisation among those infected.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the study of more than 1,300 at-risk patients who visited clinics in Brazil has shown that those who were given the drug experienced no better results from the treatment than those who were given a placebo.

One of the study’s lead authors, Professor Edward Mills of Canada’s McMaster University, summed up the researchers’ findings bluntly, saying simply that “there is no indication that ivermectin is clinically useful”. Peter Hoetz of Baylor College of Medicine, who reviewed the study, remarked that it “should really help put to rest ivermectin and not give any credibility to the use of it for Covid-19”.

The paper detailing the study’s methodology and findings has been approved for publication in a major peer-reviewed journal, and will be presented at National Institutes of Health-sponsored forum today.