REVIEW ARTICLE
Intranasal Ivermectin Spray, the Sunscreen to COVID-19
Samuel A. Stetkevich1, *, Madison J. Anzelc1, Craig G. Burkhart2, 3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2022Volume: 16
E-location ID: e187437222205190
Publisher ID: e187437222205190
DOI: 10.2174/18743722-v16-e2205190
Article History:
Received Date: 14/2/2022Revision Received Date: 28/2/2022
Acceptance Date: 17/3/2022
Electronic publication date: 18/07/2022
Collection year: 2022
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Throughout the battle against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), various medications have been repurposed in hopes of finding a successful treatment modality to combat the global pandemic. One medication that has recently begun to show promising advancement in clinical trials is the well-known anti-parasitic medication, ivermectin. In this review, we delve into ivermectin and its use as a therapeutic agent against COVID-19. The foundation of how ivermectin treats COVID-19 lies in its ability to inhibit the viral replication process. After assessing the mechanism, pharmacokinetic properties, and current uses of ivermectin, we hypothesized that administering ivermectin intranasally would best capitalize on the inhibitory qualities while avoiding dangerous dosages that would be achieved with oral treatment. Therefore, we propose early use of ivermectin to limit viral replication and severity, as well as prophylactic administration of ivermectin to protect those in high-exposure environments.
