Effect of Ivermectin vs Placebo on Time to Sustained Recovery in Outpatients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 A Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE The effectiveness of ivermectin to shorten symptom duration or prevent hospitalization among outpatients in the US with mild to moderate symptomatic COVID-19 is unknown. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of ivermectin, 400 pg/kg, daily for 3 days compared with placebo for the treatment of early mild to moderate COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS ACTIV-6, an ongoing, decentralized, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled platform trial, was designed to evaluate repurposed therapies in outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19. A total of 1591 participants aged 30 years and older with confirmed COVID-19, experiencing 2 or more symptoms of acute infection for 7 days or less, were enrolled from June 23, 2021, through February 4, 2022, with follow-up data through May 31, 2022, at 93 sites in the US. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomized to receive ivermectin, 400 mu g/kg (n = 817), daily for 3 days or placebo (n = 774). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Time to sustained recovery, defined as at least 3 consecutive days without symptoms. There were 7 secondary outcomes, including a composite of hospitalization or death by day 28. RESULTS Among 1800 participants who were randomized (mean [SD] age, 48 [12] years; 932 women [58,6%); 753 [47.3%) reported receiving at least 2 doses of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine), 1591 completed the trial. The hazard ratio (HR) for improvement in time to recovery was 1.07 (95% credible interval [Crl], 0.96-1.17; posterior P value [HR >1] = .91). The median time to recovery was 12 days (IQR, 11-13) in the ivermectin group and 13 days (IQR, 12-14) in the placebo group. There were 10 hospitalizations or deaths in the ivermectin group and 9 in the placebo group (1.2% vs 1.2%; HR, 1.1 [95% Crl, 0.4-2.6]). The most common serious adverse events were COVID-19 pneumonia (ivermectin [n = 5]; placebo [n = 7]) and venous thromboembolism (ivermectin [n =1]; placebo [n = 5]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19, treatment with ivermectin, compared with placebo, did not significantly improve time to recovery. These findings do not support the use of ivermectin in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

Automated summary

In outpatient settings, treatment with ivermectin did not significantly improve time to recovery among patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 compared to placebo. These findings suggest that ivermectin may not be effective in treating mild to moderate COVID-19.