By Kenneth V. Snyder MD PhD-Vice President Quality of Kaleida Health,

& Annette Pinder
Publisher Buffalo Healthy Living

Can the Wonder Drug Ivermectin Cure COVID-19?

The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli newspaper, reports that Professor Eli Schwartz has launched a clinical trial of the drug Ivermectin, an antiparasitic agent that is effective in fighting viruses. Ivermectin is not familiar to many physicians because it is unique to tropical medicine. Eli is a tropical disease expert, who successfully used Ivermectin to fight parasites in third world countries.

Invermectin is actually a derivative of a component that came from a single microorganism from the soil. Originally introduced as a veterinary drug, Invermectin has been considered a “wonder drug” along with penicillin and aspirin for its versatility, safety, and multiple benefits. Dr. Schwartz now hopes it will prove to be a cure for COVID-19.

There is evidence that Ivermectin has broad antiviral properties working against HIV, Dengue, Simian Virus, Zika, and Influenza. It has been suggested that SARS-CoV-2 has two mechanisms of causing its effects. First, the virus takes over a cell’s protein synthesis tools to make copies of itself. Second, the virus enters the cell’s nucleus which modifies the cell’s normal response, suppressing the body’s ability to fight it, thereby making the virus stronger. Ivermectin works by preventing the transport of viral proteins into the nucleus, thus blocking the second aspect of the viral attack.

Eli is enrolling people with moderate to mild cases of COVID-19 to see if they will test negative shortly after they contract it. Currently, people with COVID-19 generally remain ill for two to six weeks before they test negative. So far, Eli has enrolled 26 people in a randomized, double-blind quadruple mask study out of the 100 he plans to recruit. He and his team hope to see results within just six days or less following treatment.

Meanwhile, a team of Australian researchers who conducted a study of Ivermectin in March, found that it killed the COVID-19 virus within 48 hours in a cell culture. This is extremely significant. For example, if there were 100,000 copies of the virus on day one, there would be only one copy after 48 hours. Eli’s study will be the first trial carried out in humans.

According to Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, news editor and head of online content and strategy for The Jerusalem Post, a team of researchers won a 2015 Nobel Prize for the discovery of Ivermectin. Since then, millions of people have been treated with the drug, which has proven safe and effective. Eli hopes to have the study completed within the next few months, provided he gets enough people to sign up to participate.