Ivermectin as a potential treatment for mild to moderate COVID-19 – A double blind randomized placebo-controlled trial

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.05.21249310v1

CTRI/2020/08/027225- A total of 115 patients were enrolled for the study of which 112 were included in the final analysis. Of them, 55 were randomised to the intervention arm while 57 were randomised to the placebo arm. There was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics of the two arms. There was no significant difference in the primary outcome, i.e. negative RT-PCR status on day 6 between the two groups. Similarly, there was no significant difference between the two groups in most of the secondary outcome measures, viz. symptom status on day 6, discharge status on day 10, admission to ICU, and need for invasive mechanical ventilation. However, while there was no in-hospital mortality in the intervention arm, there were 4 deaths in the placebo arm. As a result, all patients in the intervention arm (n=56) were successfully discharged as compared to 93.1% (n=54/58) in the placebo arm (RR 1.1, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.2, p=0.019). There was no difference in the primary outcome i.e. negative RT-PCR status on day 6 of admission with the use of ivermectin. However, a significantly higher proportion of patients were discharged alive from the hospital when they received ivermectin.