Ivermectin as treatment for Covid-19: What do we know in 2023?

When the COVID-19 pandemic took off in full force in 2020, and the first vaccines were introduced at the end of 2020 and into 2021, there was heated debate about the use of the antiparasitic agent ivermectin for both prevention and treatment of COVID-19. In some early studies, it appeared to have an effect, and in some circles critical of vaccines, ivermectin was hailed as a miracle drug.

But that was then. Since then, more and better research has been done, so what is the status today?

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Early studies were poor

To summarise, the previous positive studies on the use of ivermectin as a preventive or curative treatment for COVID-19 were mostly weak studies. They were usually only based on observations and case studies, with relatively few patients.

To really know if a treatment works, you need randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of a certain size. You need to compare the drug being tested against a group receiving a placebo (or another standard treatment), and these m…