Frontiers in Medicine (May 2023)

Efficacy and safety of single-dose ivermectin in mild-to-moderate COVID-19: the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled CORVETTE-01 trial

  • Tatsuhiko Wada,
  • Makoto Hibino,
  • Hiromi Aono,
  • Shunsuke Kyoda,
  • Yosuke Iwadate,
  • Eri Shishido,
  • Keisuke Ikeda,
  • Nana Kinoshita,
  • Yasuki Matsuda,
  • Sakiko Otani,
  • Sakiko Otani,
  • Ryo Kameda,
  • Kenta Matoba,
  • Miwa Nonaka,
  • Mika Maeda,
  • Yuji Kumagai,
  • Junya Ako,
  • Masayoshi Shichiri,
  • Katsuhiko Naoki,
  • Masato Katagiri,
  • Masashi Takaso,
  • Masatsugu Iwamura,
  • Kazuhiko Katayama,
  • Takeshi Miyatsuka,
  • Yasushi Orihashi,
  • Kunihiro Yamaoka,
  • for the CORVETTE-01 Study Group

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1139046
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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BackgroundTo investigate whether ivermectin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 proliferation in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 using time to a negative COVID-19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.MethodsCORVETTE-01 was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study (August 2020–October 2021) conducted in Japan. Overall, 248 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 using RT-PCR were assessed for eligibility. A single oral dose of ivermectin (200 μg/kg) or placebo was administered under fasting. The primary outcome was time to a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test result for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid, assessed using stratified log-rank test and Cox regression models.ResultsOverall, 112 and 109 patients were randomized to ivermectin and placebo, respectively; 106 patients from each group were included in the full analysis set (male [%], mean age: 68.9%, 47.9 years [ivermectin]; 62.3%, 47.5 years [placebo]). No significant difference was observed in the occurrence of negative RT-PCR tests between the groups (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70–1.32; p = 0.785). Median (95% CI) time to a negative RT-PCR test was 14.0 (13.0–16.0) and 14.0 (12.0–16.0) days for ivermectin and placebo, respectively; 82.1% and 84% of patients achieved negative RT-PCR tests, respectively.ConclusionIn patients with COVID-19, single-dose ivermectin was ineffective in decreasing the time to a negative RT-PCR test.Clinical Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04703205.

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