Coronapod: Ivermectin, what the science says
Nature Podcast
podcast@nature.com
4.5 • 893 Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2021
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ivermectin is a cheap, widely available, anti-parasitic drug that has been proposed by many as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Dozens of trials have been started, but results have been far from clear, with inconsistent results further confused by high profile paper retractions. Nonetheless many countries have recommended the use of Ivermectin, despite WHO advice to the contrary.
Now a group of researchers have found suspect data in another influential paper which claimed a Ivermectin caused a 90% reduction in fatality. The paper, published at the end of 2020, has since been withdrawn pending investigation. In this episode of Coronapod we ask what this might mean for Ivermectin, and what's next for the controversial drug.
Correction: at 2:53 when discussing two discredited studies, we mistakenly say that the papers say "both drugs worked really well". In fact, this retracted study from the Lancet claimed that the drug hydroxychloroquine caused harm. We apologise for any confusion. More information on the scandal surrounding these papers can be found here.
News:Flawed ivermectin preprint highlights challenges of COVID drug studies
News: Latin America’s embrace of an unproven COVID treatment is hindering drug trials
Coronapod: The Surgisphere scandal that rocked coronavirus drug research
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Transcript
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| 1:02.4 | Welcome to CoronaPod. |
| 1:05.8 | In this show, we're going to bring you Nature's take on the latest COVID-19 developments. |
| 1:11.7 | And we'll be speaking to experts around the world about research during the pandemic. |
| 1:18.0 | We're entering a new era now. We have new COVID strategies. There's some new unknowns, and we've got a |
| 1:24.0 | vaccine. |
| 1:30.4 | Hello and welcome to CoronaPod. |
| 1:33.2 | I'm Noah Baker, and we've been away for a week, |
| 1:38.9 | but now we're back with a topic which has been requested many, many times on Twitter via email, |
| 1:43.2 | and the person that's here to talk to us about said topic is reporter Sarah Riden. |
| 1:43.8 | Sarah, how are you? |
| 1:44.7 | I'm fine. How are you? |
... |
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