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National Institutes of Health clinical trial may test ivermectin’s effects.

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Despite the risks, some think a drug for animals can be used to treat COVID-19,

The requests were strange: Customers flocking to a Nevada feed store were asking for an animal deworming drug that they said worked for COVID-19. “‘No, that’s not for you,’” Makenna Lafond, who works at Sierra Feed and Saddlery in Reno, recalled saying. “‘That’s for a 1,100-pound horse.’ Then they would buy, like, six tubes of it.”

Lafond said requests for the paste decreased late last year after she aired her concerns during a local television interview. But elsewhere, interest in ivermectin is running high, despite insufficient evidence that it works as a treatment for COVID-19 and the sometimes dangerous consequences when people take the animal version. The Food and Drug Administration said at least three people were hospitalized in February after taking the veterinary formulation. It warned that high doses can cause allergic reactions, seizures, liver injury and even death.

Experts say some people are snapping up the animal drug because it is easier to obtain than the one designed for people. That formula is approved for tropical maladies and requires a prescription. And although ivermectin is touted on social media as something that could end the pandemic, it has not been cleared for use against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

“It’s like the new hydroxychloroquine,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, referring to the malaria drug pushed by President Donald Trump that proved ineffective against COVID-19. “It would be great if ivermectin did work — it’s been around for years and is cheap. But to my knowledge, there is no data that suggests it’s good for COVID-19.”

Ivermectin is highly effective in treating devastating parasitic infections such as river blindness and is safe when used at recommended doses. But against COVID-19, there is “no meaningful evidence” of efficacy, according to Merck, which makes the brand-name version. And the nation’s leading organization of infectious-disease doctors recommends against using ivermectin outside of clinical trials.

But Pierre Kory, a critical-care physician, is undeterred. Kory,

a co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, a group of physicians and scientists from several countries, argues that studies from around the world show ivermectin is a “miracle drug” for COVID-19 and should be deployed immediately. He opposes waiting for data from large randomized clinical trials to authorize its use, saying too many people are dying of COVID-19.

Now, the National Institutes of Health might wade into the controversy. It is planning a randomized clinical trial to explore whether older, already approved drugs can be repurposed to reduce COVID-19 symptoms, according to three individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans have not been announced. Ivermectin is considered a top candidate for the trial, though the details are not final, the individuals said. Other possibilities are fluvoxamine, a decades-old antidepressant, and famotidine, the generic name for Pepcid, outside scientists said. The goal would be to get results within months.

Experts say some people are snapping up the animal drug because it is easier to obtain than the one designed for people.

DENIS FARRELL/AP Ivermectin is sold in veterinary formulation as Ivomec in South Africa, which allows its limited use against COVID-19. Neighboring Zimbabwe also apparently quietly allowed use of the drug.