
FDA-approved Drug Ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro - colinthompson
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011
======
amitutk
The key here is "in vitro".

If there is virus growing in a Petri dish, we can inhibit the growth. But we
have no idea what happens when we put this drug in a complex living being.

~~~
syspec
Well we have some idea, as it's already FDA approved for other uses

------
lidHanteyk
Ivermectin is an anti-helmenthic (thanks House! [0]); it removes worms and is
presumably harmful to biotic material. There's no particular reason why
ivermectin should be especially effective against viruses, AFAIK. WP tells me
that ivermectin acts by disrupting cell permeability and the osmotic balance,
and that it is neurotoxic to mammals, which sounds about right for somethihng
meant to kill parasites.

I'm glad that people are doing these experiments, but without a convincing
"why" or mechanism of action, it's risky to imagine that an existing pill will
neatly fit into this novel virus's way of life and death. It also makes me
think of things like my emergency gout medication, colchicine, which is also a
cellular toxin and cannot be taken for long periods of time. (Again, thanks
House!)

[0]
[https://house.fandom.com/wiki/97_Seconds](https://house.fandom.com/wiki/97_Seconds)

[0]
[https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Occam%27s_Razor](https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Occam%27s_Razor)

~~~
thereisnospork
> I'm glad that people are doing these experiments, but without a convincing
> "why" or mechanism of action, it's risky to imagine that an existing pill
> will neatly fit into this novel virus's way of life and death.

As a datum[0] we still don't understand how tylenol works. Quite a lot of
drugs are developed without meaningful or correct understanding of the
underlying mechanisms. If it is effective in a petri dish we should test it on
people - if it works in people we should give it to the infected. Given a
known safety profile there isn't a lot more logic needed here.

[0][https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00646906](https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00646906)

------
dis-sys
in "vitro” is a magic word, surely enough salt can also inhibits the
replication of SARS-CoV-2 in _vitro_.

~~~
xscott
Or bleach.

