A big study has finally laid to rest the claims that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19. 

The controversial horse dewormer gained traction within the early days of the pandemic when some experts claimed it could treat the disease attributable to SARS-CoV-2. 

The demand for the drug in some way increased as many promoted its use against COVID, especially on social media. A health care provider group even really useful ivermectin as considered one of the “i-recover” protocol of medicines for the viral disease in February. 

But a long-awaited study on the University of Minnesota finally gave its verdict on the drug, saying it was not effective at treating COVID-19. 

Published within the Recent England Journal of Medicine, the researchers behind the study found that the antiparasitic drug didn’t have the capability to treat a SARS-CoV-2 infection. 

For the study, the team focused on three common drugs claimed to have shown promise against COVID: ivermectin, the diabetes drug metformin and the antidepressant fluvoxamine. 

In response to the researchers, not one of the three proved effective at stopping low oxygen levels, ER visits, hospitalizations and even death attributable to COVID-19. 

“Not one of the three medications that were evaluated prevented the occurrence of hy- poxemia, an emergency department visit, hospitalization, or death related to Covid-19,” they wrote. 

A complete of 1,431 patients enrolled within the trial of the drugs from Dec. 30, 2020, through Jan. 28, 2022. Nevertheless, just one,323 patients moved forward with the first evaluation after screening. 

The patients were randomly assigned to 6 trial groups with different treatment setups: metformin plus fluvoxamine, metformin plus ivermectin, metformin plus placebo, placebo plus fluvoxamine, placebo plus ivermectin and placebo plus placebo. 

Though ivermectin and fluvoxamine didn’t present any efficacy against COVID-19, the diabetes drug metformin showed some promise. But the information collected by the researchers was not definitive. 

“We’re just really grateful to have the opportunity to share our work broadly and to have been published in a medical journal,” lead researcher Dr. Carolyn Bramante told KSTP-TV. 

The team’s study adds to the growing evidence on ivermectin being ineffective against SARS-CoV-2 infection. One other study published in the identical journal in March found that ivermectin did nothing to treat COVID-19 patients. The drug even yielded worse outcomes than the placebo.