SYDNEY, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A study from international and Australian researchers has found that antiparasitic drug, Ivermectin, is not effective in reducing COVID-19 hospitalisations.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, was the result of a double-blind trial of a total of 3,515 patients.
Two groups of 679 patients who had been experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 for up to seven days and had at least one risk factor for disease progression, were randomly assigned either Ivermectin once daily for three days or a placebo.
Professor Craig Rayner, Certara Distinguished Scientist and former researcher of Monash University, was involved with the project through international trial platform, TOGETHER ClinicalTrials.
"The study found that, overall, treatment with Ivermectin among outpatients with an early diagnosis of COVID-19 did not reduce the need for medical admissions to hospital settings," he told Xinhua on Thursday.
Rayner said the double-blind nature of the trial ensures results are objective and unaffected by potential stakes in the outcome.
"Double-blind is important, as neither the patient nor the treating healthcare providers knew the identity of the intervention. This is important to remove potential bias," said Rayner.
Misinformation around Ivermectin has been widespread after it was shown to have the ability to kill SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory setting, however there has been no clinical evidence that it is able to kill the virus in the human body.
Rayner said the study will allow scientists to focus their time and energy on other promising treatments for COVID-19.
"It is hoped that this study will encourage scientists and clinicians to direct their energies to discovering and developing more promising treatments for COVID." ■
