For the full article click here.
Preliminary findings released Tuesday for a U.S.-based clinical trial of anti-parasite drug ivermectin found that the mortality rate for coronavirus patients fell 40%, according to the Medrxiv.org site.
The ivermectin study — it began in March as part of a larger Australian-led clinical study — focused on 280 patients, 173 of whom were treated with the drug at four Broward County, Florida, hospitals.
The research team was led by Dr. Jean-Jacques Rajter, a Broward Health Medical Center physician, and his wife, Juliana Cepelowicz Rajter.
The findings reported in Medrxiv, “ICON (Ivermectin in COVID-19) Study: Use of Ivermectin Is Associated With Lower Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19,” said that patients who took part in the trial were given a single dose of the anti-parasitic medication, and some received a second dose a week later.
The dose given the COVID-19 patients was the same as the FDA-approved dose used to treat patients with intestinal parasites.
According to Medrxiv.org, the Broward study found that overall mortality among seriously ill COVID-19 patients treated with the drug was 15%. Mortality among patients in a similar disease state who did not receive ivermectin was 25%.
That would equate to a 40% drop in mortality, a statistically significant difference.
“It’s amazing and could literally pull people back from critical COVID-19 illness,” according to board certified emergency medicine physician Dr. Peter Hibberd, M.D.