Ivermectin to be investigated as a possible treatment for COVID-19 in Oxford's PRINCIPLE trial

[Klaralven]

15. Previous PRINCIPLE trial results

Inhaled budesonide, a common corticosteroid, is the first widely available, inexpensive drug found to shorten recovery times in COVID-19 patients aged over 50 who are treated at home and in other community settings, reports the PRINCIPLE trial in 1,779 participants. The drug is now available to treat COVID-19 on a case-by-case basis in UK primary care.

In January 2021, PRINCIPLE demonstrated that the antibiotics azithromycin and doxycycline are not effective treatments for COVID-19 in the early stages of the illness, changing clinical practice in the UK and internationally. PRINCIPLE continues to investigate the effects of treatment in the community with colchicine, a commonly used anti-inflammatory, and favipiravir, an antiviral used in Japan to treat influenza.

https://www.principletrial.org/news/asthma-drug-budesonide-shortens-recovery-time-in-non-hospitalised-patients-with-covid-19

The current study compares NIH standard of care with favipiravir or ivermectin.

There are at least half a dozen other therapeutics from convalescent serum to antibody cocktails to various antivirals like favipiravir that provide some benefit to some patients some of the time. Ivermectin may do the same. However, in all of these treatments the effect is weak and hard to measure with statistical confidence.

Since repurposing existing drugs is not profitable for big pharma, they are not going to do proper trials. It's incomprehensible why the FDA, NIH, CDC or some other US Government body does not step up and spend the comparatively few million to do proper trials.