Ivermectin — UP govt directs use of new drug to treat coronavirus instead of HCQ
The Uttar Pradesh government has issued a government order for use of new drug to treat COVID-19 patients. Ivermectin, tipped as a drug effective against coronavirus will be used in UP instead of Hydroxychloroquine. Ivermectin will be administered to COVID-19 patients under supervision of a doctor. Pregnent ladies will not be given the tablet.
What is Ivermectin?
- Ivermectin is an inhibitor of the COVID-19 causative virus (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro.
- A single treatment able to effect ~5000-fold reduction in virus at 48 h in cell culture.
- Ivermectin is FDA-approved for parasitic infections, and therefore has a potential for repurposing.
- Ivermectin is widely available, due to its inclusion on the WHO model list of essential medicines.
Although several clinical trials are now underway to test possible therapies, the worldwide response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been largely limited to monitoring/containment. We report here that Ivermectin, an FDA-approved anti-parasitic previously shown to have broad-spectrum anti-viral activity in vitro, is an inhibitor of the causative virus (SARS-CoV-2), with a single addition to Vero-hSLAM cells 2 h post infection with SARS-CoV-2 able to effect ~5000-fold reduction in viral RNA at 48 h. Ivermectin therefore warrants further investigation for possible benefits in humans.
