A health worker shows a bottle of vermectin.
Photographer: Luis Robayo / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Luis Robayo / AFP / Getty Images
Researchers at Oxford University are planning a large-scale trial of an economical drug that could help drastically reduce deaths from Covid-19 globally, according to a Times report.
The goal is to find treatments that can be used at home, shortly after symptoms appear, to detect the disease early and prevent serious illness.
This batch of drugs will include ivermectin, which has been used for decades to treat cattle and people infested with parasitic worms, the newspaper reported. Supporters call it a “wonderful drug,” but others say it has not been properly evaluated.
Although the drug has potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, “there is a gap in the data,” Chris Butler, a primary care professor at Oxford University and co-director of the trial, told the Times. “There hasn’t been a really rigorous trial.”
The World Health Organization recently suggested it has encouraging effects, the newspaper said. The drug is approved in the UK as a topical agent for skin infections and inflammations.