A Study to Compare the Efficacy and Safety of Different Doses of Ivermectin for COVID-19

In December 2019, a group of patients with pneumonia of unknown cause was linked to a wholesale seafood market in Wuhan, China. The genetic analysis of samples from the lower respiratory tract of these patients indicated a new coronavirus as the causative agent, which was named SARS-CoV-2. The virus spread rapidly to more than 45 countries, including Brazil, causing an international alarm. However, in spite of its epidemiological magnitude, so far, there is no antiviral treatment or vaccine approved for the treatment of this infection. With about 15% to 20% of SARS-CoV-2 patients suffering from serious illnesses and overburdened hospitals, therapeutic options are desperately needed. So, instead of creating compounds from scratch that can take years to develop and test, researchers and public health agencies have sought to redirect drugs already approved for other diseases and known to be widely safe. In this context, the analysis of the international literature shows the existence of an in vitro antiviral activity of ivermectin against SARS-CoV-2. However, there are no studies that have evaluated its clinical effectiveness in patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, and considering this knowledge gap, the present study aims to determine the clinical efficacy and safety of different doses of ivermectin in patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection.