Question: The other day you wrote about convalescent plasma treatment, which reminded me of another treatment I’ve been wondering about– what about ivermectin?  Any updates?

Answer: Ah, ivermectin! I last wrote about the drug back in December (Q&A of 12/18 and Q&A of 12/12), and it continues to generate a lot of interest.  So much so, that just last week, WHO revised its guidance to address the use of ivermectin for patients with COVID-19.  The guidance is, to my knowledge, the most up-to-date synthesis of what we know and don’t know about ivermectin.  It was created based on a meta-analysis of available studies plus the input of an international guidelines development panel that WHO convened with 28 content experts and 4 patients who had survived COVID. The guidance states, “[WHO recommends] not to use ivermectin in patients with covid-19 except in the context of a clinical trial, regardless of disease severity or duration of symptoms.”  The main issue continues to be a lack of solid evidence.  If you want to learn more, I encourage you to read the guidance, and check out the evidence profile (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Ivermectin Evidence Profile (from WHO, published in BMJ)