Ivermectin - let's clear up the confusion

Up until 2020, few people had heard about the drug. 4 years and a pandemic later we'll get to the bottom of it.

As COVID-19 was sweeping across the world in 2020, a potential new treatment was being touted in some circles - ivermectin.

What is Ivermectin?

Ivermectin has been used to treat humans for the past 4 decades. It was approved as a broad spectrum anti-parasitic agent, initially indicated in 1987 to treat onchocerciasis and was given as a mass drug administration (MDA) in endemic countries. Its success awarded the discoverers the Nobel prize for Medicine in 2015. Ivermectin's principal activity was to treat infections caused by roundworm parasites. Over the years, the spectrum was broadened to include ectoparasites such as scabies among others. Through the years more than 3 billion doses have been given to humans (not to horses) with a high safety profile, and the drug was added to the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. (https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/345533/WHO-MHP-HPS-EML-2021.02-eng.pdf)

The initial thoughts

Ivermectin was called a Covid "miracle" drug and championed by vaccine opponents, and recommended by health authorities in some countries. However, at the time, the health authorities in the US, UK and EU found that there was insufficient evidence for using the drug against Covid