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Medicine Science

Ivermectin Doesn't Prevent Severe COVID-19, New Study Finds (upi.com) 314

UPI reports on the results of a new randomized-controlled trial of ivermectin, the "gold standard" of medical research.

UPI reports that treatment with ivermectin "failed to prevent patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 from progressing to serious illness, a study published Friday by JAMA Internal Medicine found." Of 241 patients in the study with mild to moderate symptoms treated with the medication, 52, or 22% developed severe COVID-19, the data showed. Meanwhile, 43 of 249 patients, or 17%, who received "standard" treatment, including corticosteroids and, in a handful of cases, other experimental drugs, progressed to serious illness from the virus, the researchers said.

"Essentially, our study findings have dismissed the notion of ivermectin being a 'miracle drug' against COVID-19," study co-author Dr. Steven Chee Loon Lim told UPI in an email.... In addition, study participants treated with ivermectin reported more side effects than those given other drugs, Lim said. This "raises concerns about the widespread use of this drug," he said.... 14 of the ivermectin patients developed severe diarrhea and four suffered potentially life-threatening kidney damage, the researchers said.

The new study also examined whether patients had to go on a ventilator, needed intensive care or died from their infections — and discovered "there were no significant differences between groups."

And the researchers' study also points out that two additional randomized clinical trials conducted in 2021 also "found no significant effect of ivermectin on symptom resolution and hospitalization rates." UPI now quotes Dr. Lim as saying Friday that despite early hopes for ivermectin, "large and well-designed randomized clinical trials, including ours, have consistently shown that ivermectin offered little or no significant clinical benefits.

"I believe the findings in our study will likely 'close the door' on the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19."
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Ivermectin Doesn't Prevent Severe COVID-19, New Study Finds

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  • by ktakki ( 64573 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @11:42AM (#62283241) Homepage Journal

    Well, that should shut the barn door on that foolishness.

    Who am I kidding? There are two Americas. One eats horse dewormer.

    k.

    • "I believe the findings in our study will likely 'close the door' on the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19."

      This report will make black market sales of Ivermectin go through the roof.

    • by Vrallis ( 33290 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @12:56PM (#62283415) Homepage

      And drinks piss, and eats dirt, and will willingly shovel down any random concoction of poisons rather than stuff that real doctors have said is safe.

      • But wearing masks? That does nothing!!

      • Sadly, the piss thing hasn't stuck around and gained as much traction as I would have liked.
      • by fafalone ( 633739 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @02:07PM (#62283629)
        Until they start getting really sick, then run crying to the hospital begging for everything modern medicine has to offer (including the vaccine, too late by then though).
        • Until they start getting really sick, then run crying to the hospital begging for everything modern medicine has to offer (including the vaccine, too late by then though).

          Funny how they have no problem with all those drugs made by "Big Pharma" keeping them alive (sometimes).

    • by Tim12s ( 209786 )

      There was another set of researched that showed that Ivermectin helped those people who had worms and covid. LoL.

      So this just makes sense. If you have worms and covid you're likely to suffer.

    • "Well, that should shut the barn door on that foolishness.

      Who am I kidding? There are two Americas. One eats horse dewormer."

      The barn doesn't come into it, it's a stable.

    • by Z80a ( 971949 )

      If taking the human variant, on the correct dose, it probably will do em well due all the possible undiagnosed worms cases among em.
      I bet all "ivermecitin lowered covid deaths" studies are probably just ivermecitin doing what it actually does, and people having a higher survival rate because don't have to face both covid and worms at the same time.

    • by gillbates ( 106458 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @07:01PM (#62284377) Homepage Journal
      Mechanical ventilation occurred in 4 (1.7%) vs 10 (4.0%) (RR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.13-1.30; Pâ=â.17), intensive care unit admission in 6 (2.4%) vs 8 (3.2%) (RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.27-2.20; Pâ=â.79), and 28-day in-hospital death in 3 (1.2%) vs 10 (4.0%) (RR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.09-1.11; Pâ=â.09).

      The study's own summary claims no significant, but their own data show the ivermectin group suffered a lower percentage of adverse outcomes for every outcome measured except diarhea.

      WTF?

      • Mechanical ventilation occurred in 4 (1.7%) vs 10 (4.0%) (RR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.13-1.30; Pâ=â.17), intensive care unit admission in 6 (2.4%) vs 8 (3.2%) (RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.27-2.20; Pâ=â.79), and 28-day in-hospital death in 3 (1.2%) vs 10 (4.0%) (RR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.09-1.11; Pâ=â.09).

        The study's own summary claims no significant, but their own data show the ivermectin group suffered a lower percentage of adverse outcomes for every outcome measured except diarhea.

        WTF?

        HOWTO: run a "study" to discredit any potential covid drug which is not patented by Big Pharma:

        1. If the drug is suspected to have antiviral properties, make sure to only test it on patients who already have progressed from the viral replication phase of the disease to the cytokine storm phase, where virus doesn't matter any more, and the drug can't work. Best if you can do the "intervention" upon admission to the hospital, doing intervention on patients who show up to the doctor with severe symptoms is a

    • OK so it's not statistically important that 30 patients in the control group were put in intensive care, on a ventilator, or died versus 13 in the ivermectin group? Are we to assume that this ratio "could" not continue with equal sample sizes of other studies? We're just assuming it's completely random?
  • Ivermectin is taken by people who live an a post facts alternative reality. And sort of believe the medical establishment lie to them. Are they going to be swayed by yet another serious study ? Believers are going to listen to other believers.

    Lots of energy spent about nonsense. I have Brandolini's law in mind.

  • by Growlley ( 6732614 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @11:54AM (#62283259)
    least they haven't got worms also.
  • The statement

    Treatment with the dewormer drug ivermectin...

    indicates a clear and strong bias against ivermectin on the part of the study authors.

    In fact, ivermectin won a Nobel Prize for treating humans: see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34466270/ [nih.gov]

    • by Ed Tice ( 3732157 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @12:20PM (#62283321)
      The study authors just did a gold standard study that shows it doesn't work. Of course they have bias now that the study is concluded. Your statement would be marginally meaningful if they had a priori bias (like all of the pro-Ivermectin studies). But if you do a gold standard study and show something doesn't work and you actually believe in your methods of course that would give you a strong bias toward believing it doesn't work. Anything else would be problematic.

      Ivermectin is great at treating certain conditions in humans. Coronaviruses are not one of them.

      Arsenic (arsenic trioxide) works as a cancer treatment. That doesn't mean you should take it for athlete's foot!

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        > The study authors just did a gold standard study that shows it doesn't work.

        This borders on misinformation and is statistically ignorant.

        241 patients is highly underpowered for a disease with a very high survival rate, even though the cohort was comorbid.

        The data showed that severe disease and death were less than half in the experimental group. The p value was not large enough to draw a conclusion because the sample size was far too small.

        In normal science this type of small study is 'promising' and l

        • You misunderstand the purpose of the study - this is supposed to turn up as a talking point for team A against team B.

          If they were doing real science, they'd have a necessary and sufficient falsifiable hypothesis statement, rather than simply p-hacking :)

          • How did this get modded up? They picked the sample size and p value a priori based on the disease history. They didn't pick a convenient sample size and then try to find a p value to support their hypothesis. If there are flaws in the study, it's worth pointing them out. And those very well may exist. But the statistical analysis seems to be done correctly and, more importantly, it's not reasonable to claim that the study authors didn't think of something that's mentioned in the study!
        • tl;dr

          Typical claims they did the study wrong.

        • by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @02:13PM (#62283641)
          You:

          The data showed that severe disease and death were less than half in the experimental group.

          The fine study [jamanetwork.com]:

          Results Among 490 patients included in the primary analysis (mean [SD] age, 62.5 [8.7] years; 267 women [54.5%]), 52 of 241 patients (21.6%) in the ivermectin group and 43 of 249 patients (17.3%) in the control group progressed to severe disease (relative risk [RR], 1.25; 95% CI, 0.87-1.80; P=.25).

          Who should we believe ?

          • Who should we believe ?

            Click on "table 2" and its all there in a neatly arranged table. Deaths in the IVM group are more than three times lower than control group. People on vents in IVM group 2x lower than control. Not that any of it matters. This study is hopelessly underpowered.

            • If it doesn't matter, then don't inflate the news you like behind an ungrounded ratio. When you say "Deaths in the IVM group are more than three times lower than control group," it creates the impression that IVM might be a statistically significant contributor to that outcome. If you had just said "Only 3 IVM patients died, rather than 10 from the the control," then we would know that IVM failed to show a statistically significant improvement (and maybe could not for the sample size described below).

              The sample size was calculated based on a superiority trial design and primary outcome measure. The expected rate of primary outcome was 17.5% in the control group, according to previous local data of high-risk patients who presented with mild to moderate disease.11 A 50% reduction of primary outcome, or a 9% rate difference between intervention and control groups, was considered clinically important. This trial required 462 patients to be adequately powered. This sample size provided a level of significance at 5% with 80% power for 2-sided tests. Considering potential dropouts, a total of 500 patients (250 patients for each group) were recruited.

              • If it doesn't matter, then don't inflate the news you like behind an ungrounded ratio. When you say "Deaths in the IVM group are more than three times lower than control group," it creates the impression that IVM might be a statistically significant contributor to that outcome.

                This is an interesting device. First take a comment out of context then deride the person for having taken the comment out of context. I said it doesn't matter after having pointed people to table 2 which provides statistical context.

                I'll word my remarks however I please. The readers ability to understand English is none of my concern.

                The sample size was calculated based on a superiority trial design and primary outcome measure. The expected rate of primary outcome was 17.5% in the control group, according to previous local data of high-risk patients who presented with mild to moderate disease.11 A 50% reduction of primary outcome, or a 9% rate difference between intervention and control groups, was considered clinically important. This trial required 462 patients to be adequately powered. This sample size provided a level of significance at 5% with 80% power for 2-sided tests. Considering potential dropouts, a total of 500 patients (250 patients for each group) were recruited.

                I'll leave table 2 speak for itself as to whether or not the study was sufficiently powered to make any statistically relevant statements.

        • by fafalone ( 633739 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @02:36PM (#62283729)
          You're posting absolute misinformation and it profoundly ignorant in all ways. You only needed far smaller studies to proclaim it works, you're posting a site full of fraudulent, methodologically flawed (including many with less statistical power), and extremely biased studies.
          Most importantly, you're ignorant as fuck about statistics. Sample size validity is influenced by methodology in question. A retrospective study with 241 patients may be useless, an RCT trial is not. But hey what's being enourmously biased and ignorant for a right wing idiot and projecting that onto others? Par for the course.
          Who mods ignorance like this up?
      • The study authors just did a gold standard study that shows it doesn't work.

        There is no definition of "gold standard" that includes an unblinded underpowered study.

        • I love how ivermectin supporters have trotted out studies with even weaker designs and samples 1/4th as big as evidence it works, but now claim to be experts on statistics to falsely claim all study designs are invalid if n=241. Study design matters. You can have an underpowered study with 2000 people, you have a representative study with 200. But I guess if you knew that much about scientific studies, you wouldn't be obsessed with ivermectin as useful for anything beyond parasites.
          • by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @03:33PM (#62283939)

            I love how ivermectin supporters have trotted out studies with even weaker designs and samples 1/4th as big as evidence it works

            There are some very interesting studies out there for early/preventative treatment.

            https://www.researchgate.net/p... [researchgate.net]

            but now claim to be experts on statistics to falsely claim all study designs are invalid if n=241.

            I have not claimed to be an expert.

            I have not asserted all study designs are invalid.

            I do very much assert this study is obviously significantly underpowered and the authors should have known better from the outset. One need only look at the single digit outcomes in all categories except severe disease (two digits with a patently ridiculous 95% CI). In this study there are more than three times the number of deaths in the control than IVM group. If the study were sufficiently powered we would not be seeing "coincidences" like this.

            Study design matters.

            It's not even blinded let alone double blinded.

            You can have an underpowered study with 2000 people, you have a representative study with 200.

            Totally agree you can have an underpowered study with a million people. What matters is not what happens in other studies. It's what actually happened in this one.

            But I guess if you knew that much about scientific studies, you wouldn't be obsessed with ivermectin as useful for anything beyond parasites.

            I've made no claim about whether or not Ivermectin works.

    • In fact, ivermectin won a Nobel Prize for treating humans

      Sure, and if covid caused river blindness and elephantiasis it might be useful.

    • by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @12:53PM (#62283405) Homepage Journal

      Well, a drug doesn't get a Nobel prize, the scientists involved with discovering the drug get the Nobel prize.

      And given that the drug IS a dewormer, and that you can indeed deworm humans(I had to be as a teen, got infected somehow), I don't see why mentioning the primary use of the drug disallows it or even shows bias.

      My mom takes an anti-malaria drug for her arthritis. Unlike COVID, there are full size studies showing its effectiveness there.

      If you think that "dewormer drug ivermectin" is a strong bias against, consider the very title of the "study" you posted:
      "Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honoured distinction with indicated efficacy against a new global scourge, COVID-19"

      This indicates an incredibly overwhelming bias towards in that case, with the "Nobel prize", the "multifaceted"(it is, really, it treats a lot of parasites in a lot of animals including humans), and calling COVID-19 a "new global scourge".

      It's also a meta study that uses discredited studies underneath it and disregards lots of readily available studies that say that IVM isn't effective. A meta study isn't very good if you only pick studies that support your side.

  • For conspiracy theorists, every single piece of evidence can be explained by another layer of conspiracy.

    “A good conspiracy is unprovable. I mean, if you can prove it, it means they screwed up somewhere along the line.”

  • So much scientist time wasted on disproving shit wannabe scientists pulled out of their asses.

  • I looked at this paper yesterday and the outcome is not new or surprising. Late stage study (Treatments started on average 5.1 days after exposure) and only 1000 participants total /w 1:1 allocation between the treatment and control arms. It should not be surprising to anyone this is way too under-powered from the outset to find a statistically significant (p-value <= 0.05) outcome even if you stipulate in advance one existed.

    This study is not even blinded. If you did a trial of either Pfizers or Merc

    • I looked at this paper yesterday and the outcome is not new or surprising. Late stage study (Treatments started on average 5.1 days after exposure)

      Of course, it always works in only the scenarios that are the most difficult to study.

      It should not be surprising to anyone this is way too under-powered from the outset to find a statistically significant (p-value <= 0.05) outcome even if you stipulate in advance one existed.

      Really?
      Among 490 patients included in the primary analysis (mean [SD] age, 62.5 [8.7] years; 267 women [54.5%]), 52 of 241 patients (21.6%) in the ivermectin group and 43 of 249 patients (17.3%) in the control group progressed to severe disease (relative risk [RR], 1.25; 95% CI, 0.87-1.80; P=.25).

      That looks like plenty to me.

      This study is not even blinded.

      Double no, single yes:
      The randomization was based on an investigator-blinded randomization list upl

  • Anybody who wants to be treated with Ivermectin should be allowed to do so. If it's not initially effective, I recommend megadoses.
  • All the studies in the world won't convince some people. Apple flavor can do that.
  • I heard from my coworker who heard it from their sister who heard it from their cousin who read it on Facebook that ivermectin is the holy grail of treating and preventing covid. That's what Big Pharma doesn't want you to know.

    I mean all those people [thehill.com] who took [businessinsider.com] ivermetin and died [chron.com] can't be wrong, can they? If not ivermectin, can we drink our own urine [yahoo.com] to prevent covid? Is this another thing Big Pharma doesn't want us to know about?

    • I heard from my coworker who heard it from their sister who heard it from their cousin who read it on Facebook that ivermectin is the holy grail of treating and preventing covid. That's what Big Pharma doesn't want you to know.

      I mean all those people who took ivermetin and died can't be wrong, can they? If not ivermectin, can we drink our own urine to prevent covid? Is this another thing Big Pharma doesn't want us to know about?

      Anecdotes do not convey useful information.

  • FTFS:

    I believe the findings in our study will likely 'close the door' on the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19

    I just love the smell of optimism in the morning. :)

    Up next:

    Anti-vaxxers double down on claims of Ivermectin effectiveness. Probably multiple times. And continue to get more serious COVID infections and die at higher rates than those who vaccinate, mask, distance, etc.

  • by Ichoran2 ( 9394931 ) on Saturday February 19, 2022 @02:47PM (#62283789)
    It's another medium-sized study, billed as "gold standard" but it isn't (because it's not double-blinded...so maybe it's silver standard?), finding the same results that have been found before (no substantial effect on serious cases) including with actual gold-standard studies, and not providing any more information about death because yet again it's underpowered to do that. (With regards to death, their data is consistent with everything from ivermectin lowering your risk of death 11x, to raising your risk of death 10%. THANK YOU for these mile-wide error bars...how does this help us understand anything, again?!) And, given all that, the lead author has the temerity (in the interview, not the paper) to suggest that this replication of the results of previous studies on ivermectin should "close the door" on its use! No--either the door was already closed because if it doesn't work on serious cases (which we already knew) it's not worth taking, or it's still open because we haven't ruled it in or out as being helpful against deaths! (The UPI article also reports the ICU numbers which are too small to actually be significant, but not the death numbers, also too small to be significant...but the ICU gap is much smaller. Nice way to spin the narrative, UPI! How about you just *don't report on results with numbers too small to be significant*, hm? How are we supposed to take science reporting seriously when we're picking and choosing which noise-dominated values get announced without context to show how noisy they are, and which aren't?) As an addition to the literature, sure, it's nice to have. Replication is good. Helps us make sure we haven't made a mistake. But it doesn't move the needle anywhere. It shows again what was already shown, and isn't big enough to rule out (or in) the remaining question.

As long as we're going to reinvent the wheel again, we might as well try making it round this time. - Mike Dennison

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