Widely-used antiparasitic drug Ivermectin kills coronavirus in lab tests
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Topics: DRUG IVERMECTIN CORONAVIRUS
They have demonstrated the effectiveness of the drug in lab settings and are now moving towards human clinical trials to help the world fight the deadly pandemic.
While exploring existing drugs as potential COVID-19 treatments, the researchers at the Monash University in Melbourne found that Ivermectin, an FDA-approved medicine to fight HIV, Influenza, and Zika, can prevent the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from growing in cell cultures.
In their "in vitro" lab tests, the drug proved effective and was able to kill the virus grown in cell cultures within just 48 hours.
Kylie Wagstaff, the researcher who led the study published in Antiviral Research, says "...Even a single dose [of the drug] could essentially remove all viral RNA (genetic material) by 48 hours and... even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it." ■