High concentrations of ivermectin demonstrated antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2
in vitro
. Aim of this study was to assess safety and efficacy of high-dose ivermectin in reducing viral load in individuals with early SARS-CoV-2 infection. Randomised, double-blind, multicentre, phase II, dose-finding, proof-of-concept clinical trial. Participants: adults recently diagnosed with asymptomatic/oligosymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, providing informed consent. Exclusion criteria: pregnant or lactating women; CNS diseases; dialysis; severe medical condition with prognosis < 6 months; warfarin treatment; antiviral/chloroquine phosphate/hydroxychloroquine treatment. Participants were assigned according to a randomized permuted block procedure to one of the following arms with allocation ratio 1:1:1: placebo (arm A); single dose ivermectin 600 μg/kg plus placebo for 5 days (arm B); single dose ivermectin 1200 μg/kg for 5 days (arm C). Primary outcomes: serious adverse drug reactions (SADR) and change of viral load at Day 7. From 31
th
July, 2020 to 26
th
May, 2021, 32 participants were randomized to arm A, 29 to arm B and 32 to arm C. The recruitment was stopped on 10
th
June, because of a dramatic drop of cases. Eighty-nine participants were included in the safety analysis set, the change in viral load was calculated on 87 participants. No SADR were registered. The mean log10 viral load reduction was 2.9 in arm C (SD 1.6), 2.5 (2.2) in arm B and 2.0 (2.1) in arm A, with no significant differences (p=0.099 and 0.122 for C versus A and B versus A, respectively). High-dose ivermectin was safe, but did not prove efficacy to reduce viral load.
Cristina Marenghi and Maria Francesca Alvisi contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. Nicola Nicolai and Riccardo Valdagni contributed equally to this work.
ABSTRACT Purpose:To evaluate the outcomes of active surveillance (AS) on patients with low-risk prostate cancer (PCa) and to identify predictors of disease reclassification. Methods: In 2005, we defined an institutional AS protocol (Sorveglianza Attiva Istituto Nazionale Tumori [SAINT]), and we joined the Prostate Cancer Research International: Active Surveillance (PRIAS) study in 2007. Eligibility criteria included clinical stage ≤T2a, initial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) <10 ng/mL, and Gleason Pattern Score (GPS) ≤3 + 3 (both protocols); ≤25% positive cores with a maximum core length containing cancer ≤50% (SAINT); and ≤2 positive cores and PSA density <0.2 ng/mL/cm 3 (PRIAS). Switching to active treatment was advised for a worsening of GPS, increased positive cores, or PSA doubling time <3 years. Active treatment-free survival (ATFS) was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Factors associated with ATFS were evaluated with a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Results: A total of 818 patients were included: 200 in SAINT, 530 in PRIAS, and 88 in personalized AS monitoring. Active treatment-free survival was 50% after a median follow-up of 60 months. A total of 404/818 patients (49.4%) discontinued AS: 274 for biopsy-related reclassification, 121/404 (30%) for off-protocol reasons, 9/404 (2.2%) because of anxiety. Biopsy reclassification was associated with PSA density (hazard ratio [HR] 1.8), maximum percentage of core involvement (HR 1.5), positive cores at diagnostic biopsy (HR 1.6), older age (HR 1.5), and prostate volume (HR 0.6) (all p<0.01). Patients from SAINT were significantly more likely to discontinue AS than were the patients from PRIAS (HR 1.65, p<0.0001). Conclusions: Five years after diagnosis, 50% of patients with early PCa were spared from active treatment. Wide inclusion criteria are associated with lower ATFS. However, at preliminary analysis, this does not seem to affect the probability of unfavorable pathology.
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