Oxford University will now explore Ivermectin for COVID-19 treatment in the UK

Should Ivermectin be used for COVID-19 treatment or not? There has been controversies and conflicting opinion surrounding this for a long time.

On Wednesday (June 23), now the University of Oxford said that it was testing anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as a possible treatment for Covid-19. This is a part of a British government-backed study that aims to aid recoveries in non-hospital settings.

Ivermectin resulted in a reduction of virus replication in laboratory studies, the university said, adding that a small pilot showed giving the drug early could reduce viral load and the duration of symptoms in some patients with mild COVID-19.

Dubbed Principle, the British study in January showed that antibiotics azithromycin and doxycycline were generally ineffective against early-stage COVID-19.

While the World Health Organization, and European and US regulators have recommended against using ivermectin in COVID-19 patients, it is being used to treat the illness in some countries, including India.

"By including ivermectin in a large-scale trial like Principle, we hope to generate robust evidence to determine how effective the treatment is against Covid-19, and whether there are benefits or harms associated with its use," co-lead investigator of the trial Chris Butler said, as reported by Reuters.

People with severe liver conditions, who are on blood-thinning medication warfarin, or taking other treatments known to interact with ivermectin, will be excluded from the trial, the university added. Ivermectin is the seventh treatment to be investigated in the trial, and is currently being evaluated alongside antiviral drug favipiravir, the university said.

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), used as a prescription medication to treat certain parasitic roundworm infections.

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