Comment by bulletsvshumans

5 years ago

Ivermectin is approved by the FDA, but not (yet?) for treating COVID-19, and not at the doses shown to stop the virus in experimental conditions. The dose shown to be effective against COVID-19 is much much higher than the dosage approved by the FDA for other purposes.

6 comments

bulletsvshumans

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readhn  5 years ago

from the paper: "..no toxicity was observed with ivermectin at any of the concentrations tested....

Ivermectin has an established safety profile for human use and is FDA approved for a number of parasitic infections1, Importantly, recent reviews and meta analysis indicate that high dose ivermectin has comparable safety as the standard low-dose treatment, although there is not enough evidence to make conclusions about the safety profile in pregnancy.

The critical next step in further evaluation for possible benefit in COVID patients will be to examine a multiple addition dosing regimen that mimics the current approved usage of ivermectin in humans. As noted, ivermectin was the focus of a recent phase III clinical trial in dengue patients in Thailand, in which a single daily dose was found to be safe but did not produce any clinical benefit. However, the investigators noted that an improved dosing regimen might be developed, based on pharmacokinetic data. Although DENV is clearly very different to SARS-CoV-2, this trial design should inform future work going forward. Altogether the current report, combined with a known-safety profile, demonstrates that ivermectin is worthy of further consideration as a possible SARS-CoV-2 antiviral. "

  • giardini  5 years ago

    Years ago a friend invited me to help him brand his cattle. We rounded 'em up and sent each through a chute where we applied a dose of ivermectin to their back. The procedure was: measure, pour directly on their back and then spread it around with bare hands. We did this for an indeterminate number of cattle. He seemed unconcerned that _we_ were getting quite a dose through our skin too.

    This friend has lived a remarkably healthy life - he was over 70, never got sick, and could toss hay bales with the best of them. Seeing how Ivermectin is applied, I'm fairly certain there wasn't (and isn't) a single parasite in his body, in his clothes, his pickup truck or his mobile home.

honksillet  5 years ago

I would be surprised if the dose would have to be "much, much" higher. When treating lice or scabies you need to give patient so much that a significant amount is eliminate through the skin. Enough to kill complex multicellular organisms. If I recall, the primary method of elimination of ivermectin is via the liver in the stool (and not via the skin). I wouldn't expect a dose of Ivermectin used to fight COVID to be higher than the dose used to fight, say, scabies. However it would make sense that you would have to take multiple doses over a much longer time to maintain a steady state in the blood stream.

honksillet  5 years ago

What is the dose needed to treated to COVID. I'm assuming it would have to be continued for at least 5 days and dosed multiple times daily. Normally ivermectin is dosed as a single dose 0.2mg/kg (so 14mg for an average 70kg person) for treating, say scabies.