Researchers in a clinical trial have found that a five-day course of Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, can shorten hospitalisation time of Covid-19 cases with mild symptoms.
The drug significantly cuts virus load on cases who did not take any other drugs in the early stage of symptoms for the disease, clinically known as SARS-CoV-02.
But they said it is too early to conclude that Ivermectin is fully effective or of therapeutic class as a large-scale study is required to prove its efficacy against Covid-19.
The findings of the study, conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), were presented at a seminar hosted at a city hotel on Monday.
BEXIMCO Pharmaceuticals managing director Nazmul Hassan attended the event as the chief guest and Bangladesh Medical Research Council chairman Prof Dr Syed Modasser Ali as the special guest. ICDDR,B acting executive director Dr Tahmeed Ahmed chaired the programme.
BEXIMCO funded the study styled 'Ivermectin and Doxycycline in combination or Ivermectin alone for the treatment of adult Bangladeshi patients hospitalised for mild Covid-19: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial'.
It was done from June 17 to September 08, 2020.
Dr Wasif Ali Khan, senior physician scientist of enteric and respiratory diseases at ICDDR,B, presented the findings.
He said, "The results of the study provide evidence of potential benefit of early intervention with Ivermectin for treating adults diagnosed with mild Covid-19."
The findings also conform to other global studies on Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19, Dr Khan added.
However, he said time has not come to make a final decision on the drug's effectiveness as the sample of the study was small and a detailed study is needed.
The ICDDR,B assessed a total of 113 patients to finally enroll 68 in three groups for the study.
The participating hospitals were Mugda Medical College and Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, and Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.
First group (22 cases) received 12mg Ivermectin single dose with 200mg Doxycycline on first day followed by 100mg Doxycycline twice a day for the next four days.
Second group (23 cases) was treated with Ivermectin for five days (one 12mg tablet per day).
Third group (23 cases) consumed only placebo, a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value.
Patients in the five-day Ivermectin group were 77 per cent more likely to have early viral clearance on 14th day than those who got Ivermectin and Doxycycline (61 per cent) and placebo (39 per cent). The study demonstrated that on day three, 18 per cent of the patients treated with Ivermectin alone began to show viral clearance compared to Ivermectin plus Doxycycline (3.0 per cent) and placebo (3.0 per cent).
The findings have been published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases on December 02.
At the event, Mr Hassan said the world's only approved medicine to treat Covid-19 is Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, which costs over $500 per dose in America. WHO, however, recommended earlier against the use of the drug in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
If the trial of Ivermectin gets successful, he hoped, treatment with the drug will cost less than $3.0, at least for patients with mild symptoms.
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