Kowa Co Ltd. has announced that their anti-parasite drug, Ivermectin, demonstrated an antiviral effect against new variants of the coronavirus.
The company has generated some controversy, due to a previous news story that stated that the drug was “effective against omicron”, despite this not being fully tested in clinical trials. The story came from clinical trials run by Oxford University, which did report reduced viral load in laboratory studies.
Clinical research is ongoing, but as of yet the FDA, WHO, and EU drug regulators have not approved the use of the drug for the treatment of Covid-19.
Kowa has been working on the development of the drug alongside Tokyo’s Kitasato University, and research has largely involved joint non-clinical research.
Ivermectin has come under fire before when it was mentioned by Joe Rogan, a vaccine skeptic who claimed he used the drug instead of getting the vaccines.
The drug has shown promise at this stage in test-tube studies of its antiviral properties, but Merck, the producers of the drug, warn that there is a lack of scientific evidence to support ivermectin’s therapeutic effects.
Want to Learn More?
In addition to keeping you up to date on all things clinical trials, we also act as a digital CRO with a specific focus on patient recruitment and retention. We believe that patient recruitment and study startup (especially study design and study material) are heavily intertwined. After all, study design can make or break clinical trials, and the patient perspective should be considered when designing studies to ensure that patient targets are met not only on time but also on budget.
For Citruslabs, patient recruitment starts with study design and ends with trial completion. We recruit patients through our network of health apps, which enables you to connect with thousands of patients in real-time. The best part: these patients are already educated and prepared for the clinical trial process.