A health worker shows a bottle of Ivermectin.
Photographer: Luis Robayo / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Luis Robayo / AFP / Getty Images
Researchers at Oxford University are planning a large-scale study of a cheap drug that could help dramatically reduce Covid-19 deaths globally, according to a Times report.
The goal is to find treatments that could be used at home, shortly after the onset of symptoms, to catch the disease early and prevent serious illness.
This batch of drugs will include ivermectin, which has been used for decades to treat animals and people infested with parasitic worms, the newspaper reported. Proponents call it a “miracle drug,” but others say it was not evaluated correctly.
While the drug has potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, “there is a data gap,” Chris Butler, a primary care professor at Oxford University and co-head of the process, told the Times. “There was no really rigorous process.”
The World Health Organization recently suggested that it has encouraging effects, the newspaper said. The drug is approved in the UK as a topical agent for skin infections and inflammations.