Bangladesh’s COVID-19 ‘Wonder’ drug combo: ICMR to review
The country’s pinnacle medical research body ICMR is assessing the advantages of Bangladesh’s COVID-19 ‘Wonder’ drug combo – ivermectin and doxycycline as a possible treatment for COVID-19. The combination of these two medicines has been hailed by physicians in Bangladesh for producing “astonishing outcomes”.
Nivedita Gupta, a senior scientist at ICMR, said, “We are very closely researching the drug ivermectin and its possible efficacy against COVID-19. It needs to be studied much more closely”.
Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug used to treat some parasitic worms – approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, while doxycycline is an antibiotic drug.
A group of Bangladeshi doctors asserted that their research study on the combination of these 2 drugs “generated astonishing outcomes” in treating acute symptoms of COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Md Tarek Alam, Professor, head of the medicine department, Bangladesh Medical College Hospital (BMCH), said “All the 60 COVID-19 patients were recuperated as the combination of the two medicines were used”.
On the other hand, according to Gupta, ICMR has reviewed the drug multiple times.
She added, “It has actually revealed effectiveness in in-vitro studies yet there are no researches on humans”.
She said
, “We are continuously examining the evolution of the use of this drug in the COVID-19 treatment. But, to conclude anything, we need strong evidence or a published study, backed by statistically substantial information on a larger sample dimension”.Wonder’ medicine combination
The doctors from Bangladesh claimed that the effectiveness of the ivermectin-doxycycline drug mix is fairly high and it has helped in the recovery of COVID-19 patients within 4 days. They also claimed that “there were no adverse effects” of these drugs.
Dr. Alam said, “The repeated or 2nd tests, in line with the process, reconfirmed COVID-19 negative in all the cases under the study which found the combination to have no adverse effects on patients either”.
He added, “We are 100% hopeful concerning the effectiveness of the combination of drugs”.
Ivermectin part of 5 researches in India.
As per the government portal Clinical Trials Registry India (CTRI), ivermectin is part of at least 5 ongoing tests in India.
To examine the effectiveness of ivermectin with ‘standard of care treatment vs standard of care treatment for COVID-19 cases, Max Hospital has signed up in a trial.
One more trial signed up by the Department of Medicine of Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, will certainly research the effects of anti-malarial medicine hydroxychloroquine, ciclesonide – a drug used to treat asthma, as well as ivermectin in the therapy of modest COVID-19.
The trial is divided into 4 parts – 3 for each medicine and one for standard treatment. Noted the details of the trial, “A sample size of 30 in each arm is recommended to be included over 6 months period. If the patients degrade to severe COVID-19 condition, the trial medications would certainly be withdrawn”.
Author: Sruthi S
