Lot of researches in different countries are taking place to find a treatment for the deadly virus. Now, as per a new research by Australian scientists, a common anti-parasitic drug killed SARS-CoV-2 virus, growing in cell culture, within 48 hours in lab settings. Ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that is been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses such as HIV, dengue, influenza and Zika virus.
The study from Monash University, published in the journal Antiviral Research, showed that a single dose of Ivermectin could stop the coronavirus growing in cell culture by effectively eradicating all genetic material of the virus within two days. The study lead author Dr Kylie Wagstaff said, "We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it."
However, Dr Wagstaff cautioned that the tests conducted in the study were in vitro and that trials needed to be carried out in people. Wagstaff informed, "Ivermectin is very widely used & seen as a safe drug. We need to figure out now whether the dosage you can use it at in humans will be effective, that's the next step."
She added, “In times when we're having a global pandemic and there isn't an approved treatment, if we had a compound that was already available around the world then that might help people sooner. Realistically it's going to be a while before a vaccine is broadly available."
Although the mechanism by which Ivermectin works on the virus is not known, it is likely, based on its action in other viruses & that it works to stop the virus 'dampening down' the host cells' ability to clear it. Dr Wagstaff has made a previous breakthrough finding on Ivermectin in 2012 when she identified the drug and its antiviral activity with Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute's Professor David Jans, also an author on this paper. Professor Jans and his team have been researching Ivermectin for more than 10 years with different viruses.
Dr Wagstaff & Professor Jans has started investigating whether it worked on the SARS-CoV-2 virus as soon as the pandemic was known to have begun. The researchers noted that use of Ivermectin to combat coronavirus depends on pre-clinical testing and clinical trials, & funding is urgently required to progress the work.
