Ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasitic infections in people and animals, is being tested at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center to see if it reduces symptoms and duration of Covid-19 infection.
Dr. Eli Schwartz, founder of Sheba’s Center for Geographic Medicine and Tropical Disease, is one of the first researchers to do a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ivermectin on Covid-19 patients.
Schwartz tells ISRAEL21c he needs to enroll 100 mildly to moderately ill patients, 50 to receive ivermectin and 50 to receive a placebo. Thus far, nearly 30 have begun the trial.
“We are looking at patients in the initial phase [of infection] to see if we can shorten the viral shedding time. It would be significant from a public-health point of view. Instead of being isolated for two to six weeks until two PCR tests come back negative, maybe they could be isolated for a week. That’s the main target,” says Schwartz.
Professor Eli Schwartz, founder of the Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Disease at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, launched a clinical trial involving ivermectin, the broad-spectrum antiparasitic therapy that absolutely destroyed the novel coronavirus pathogen in an Australian lab experiment. Professor Schwartz undoubtedly has been scanning the use of ivermectin like TrialSite News has been reporting on it: the momentum behind the movement can’t be denied. The drug, Professor Schwartz posits, may be some form of cure.
TrialSite News recently showcased the study in Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s number one health provider and the 9th top health center worldwide. Recently, Schwartz informed The Jerusalem Post that the drug, now tested in mild to moderate cases, launched an investigation to determine if the regimen can significantly shorten the viral shedding period, allowing patients to post negative tests for COVID-19 and hence shorten the isolation period to just a few days. Currently, the infection can last at least two weeks and Gilead’s remdesivir helped reduce this amount by a few days. What if an economical and available drug could do far better?
Principal Investigator Comment
Professor Schwartz commented, “From a public health point of view, this is very important,” noting that if there was an economical and available cure such as this for the most part those that would fall ill would get better far more quickly and be back to work hence contributing to the economy’s productivity.
The Study
To date, The Jerusalem Post reports the study has enrolled 26 participants in the randomized, controlled trial: the protocol calls for 100 participants. Most of the recruits will be at what The Jerusalem Post refers to as state-run “coronavirus hotels.”
Nobel Prize
In 2015, a team of researchers won a Nobel Prize for the discovery of Ivermectin. Millions have been treated with the dru,g which has a known safety profile that clinical investigational teams can work with.
Growing Momentum
As TrialSite News has reported, in Peru thousands of been treated with ivermectin and the drug has been given the greenlight by the regulatory authorities. In Bolivia, regional governments are giving out hundreds of thousands of doses, while in Bangladesh TrialSite News interviewed doctor Tarek Alam that reported astounding results at the Bangladesh Medical College. TrialSite News has interviewed Dr. Jean-Jaque Rajter who treated patients in Broward County Florida. The observational protocol, approved by the Broward Health Board, led to materially positive results, which were recently uploaded to the preprint server. Now at least 23 random controlled trials involving ivermectin are ongoing, including those sponsored by the University of Kentucky and Johns Hopkins University. Sanford Health is purportedly also planning an ivermectin trial in the Great Plains region of America.
Lead Research/Investigator
Professor Eli Schwartz, founder of the Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Disease at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer
