Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug used by former President Donald Trump to treat Covid-19 and promoted by some Republican legislators, does nothing to prevent the disease from progressing, according to a study out of Malaysia published Friday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, confirming prior studies suggesting that ivermectin does not effectively prevent or treat the disease.
Researchers gave 241 high-risk patients with mild or moderate Covid-19 a five-day course of oral ivermectin during the first week of illness, but found that it did not reduce the risk of severe disease compared to 249 similar patients who did not receive the drug.
The study was conducted across 20 public hospitals and a Covid-19 quarantine center, and was open to patients experiencing their first week of illness who were age 50 and older with comorbidities, lab-confirmed Covid, and mild to moderate disease, according to the research.
To test the drug’s effectiveness, the study measured the proportion of patients who progressed to needing supplemental oxygen to maintain blood oxygen levels of 95% or higher, as well as the rates of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, and other adverse effects.
The results showed 21.6% of patients in the group that received ivermectin progressed to severe disease, while 17.3% of patients in the control group ended up becoming more severely ill, and “no significant differences” between the groups related to the other outcomes.
The study reinforced findings from 2021 clinical trials in Colombia and Argentina which tentatively determined that ivermectin does not have a significant effect on symptoms or hospitalization rates among people with Covid.
The JAMA study collected data from a total of 490 patients from May 31 to October 25.
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