The effect of ivermectin on the viral load and culture viability in early treatment of nonhospitalized patients with mild COVID-19 – a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial

“Background: ... Here we conducted a double-blinded randomized control trial (RCT) to assess whether ivermectin shows anti-SARS-Cov-2 activity as reflected by shortening the viral shedding in nonhospitalized patients in the early stage of COVID-19 infection...

Discussion: In this double-blind RCT with mild COVID-19 patients, ivermectin significantly reduced time of viral shedding and affected viral viability when initiated in the first week after evidence of infection. Our primary endpoint was to show the benefit of ivermectin on day 6 (3 days after ending treatment), which was achieved with 72% of samples being non-infectious (Ct>30) in comparison to 50% among the placebo group (OR 2·6).”