Title: Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honoured distinction with indicated efficacy against a new global scourge, COVID-19 - PubMed URL Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34466270/ Markdown Content: Review ## Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honoured distinction with indicated efficacy against a new global scourge, COVID-19 A D Santin et al. New Microbes New Infect.2021. Display options Format Display options Format ## Abstract In 2015, the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, in its only award for treatments of infectious diseases since six decades prior, honoured the discovery of ivermectin (IVM), a multifaceted drug deployed against some of the world's most devastating tropical diseases. Since March 2020, when IVM was first used against a new global scourge, COVID-19, more than 20 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have tracked such inpatient and outpatient treatments. Six of seven meta-analyses of IVM treatment RCTs reporting in 2021 found notable reductions in COVID-19 fatalities, with a mean 31% relative risk of mortality vs. controls. During mass IVM treatments in Peru, excess deaths fell by a mean of 74% over 30 days in its ten states with the most extensive treatments. Reductions in deaths correlated with the extent of IVM distributions in all 25 states with p < 0.002. Sharp reductions in morbidity using IVM were also observed in two animal models, of SARS-CoV-2 and a related betacoronavirus. The indicated biological mechanism of IVM, competitive binding with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, is likely non-epitope specific, possibly yielding full efficacy against emerging viral mutant strains. **Keywords:** COVID-19; H.pylori; SARS-CoV-2; ivermectin; spike protein. © 2021 The Author(s). [PubMed Disclaimer](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/) ## Figures [![Image 1: Fig. 1](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/7a58/8383101/5ae056786f1f/gr1.gif)](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/7a58/8383101/d138a3465020/gr1.jpg) **Fig.1** A) Excess all-cause deaths (all ages), the national population of Peru. These decreased 14-fold from 1st August through 1st December 2020; then, after IVM use was restricted, increased 13-fold through 1st February. For A and B, y values are 7-day moving averages; for B and C, ages ≥60. Data are from Peru’s National Death Information System (SINADEF). (B) Drops in excess deaths for all states of operation _MOT_, an army-led program of mass IVM distributions, but Pasco, which had them on three dates. • _MOT_ start date; ▴ peak deaths; ▪ day of peak deaths+30 days. Junin distributed IVM through local channels 13 days before _MOT_ start. (C) Reductions in excess deaths at+30 days after peak deaths for the 25 states by extent of IVM distributions: maximal-_MOT_ ([Image: see text]), mean -74%; moderate-local distributions ([Image: see text]), mean -53%; and minimal-Lima ([Image: see text]), -25%. The absolute value of these reductions by state correlated with extent of IVM distributions with Kendall τ b=0.524, p<0.002 (Spearman rho=0.619, p<0.001). All these data are from publicly accessible Peruvian national databases, with associated frozen datasets available from the Dryad data repository [42]. ## Similar articles * [The SARS-CoV-2 Ivermectin Navarra-ISGlobal Trial (SAINT) to Evaluate the Potential of Ivermectin to Reduce COVID-19 Transmission in low risk, non-severe COVID-19 patients in the first 48 hours after symptoms onset: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized control pilot trial.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32513289/) Chaccour C, Ruiz-Castillo P, Richardson MA, Moncunill G, Casellas A, Carmona-Torre F, Giráldez M, Mota JS, Yuste JR, Azanza JR, Fernández M, Reina G, Dobaño C, Brew J, Sadaba B, Hammann F, Rabinovich R.Chaccour C, et al.Trials. 2020 Jun 8;21(1):498. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04421-z.Trials. 2020.PMID: 32513289 Free PMC article. * [An _in-silico_ analysis of ivermectin interaction with potential SARS-CoV-2 targets and host nuclear importin α.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33131430/) Azam F, Taban IM, Eid EEM, Iqbal M, Alam O, Khan S, Mahmood D, Anwar MJ, Khalilullah H, Khan MU.Azam F, et al.J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2022 Apr;40(6):2851-2864. doi: 10.1080/07391102.2020.1841028. 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