Main content

Is Ivermectin a Covid ‘wonder drug’?

Excited claims have been circulating on the internet about the benefits of a cheap drug, Ivermectin. We look at the numbers and ask what, if anything, we know for sure.

To some on the internet, the cheap anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin is a potential wonder drug that could dramatically change the global fight against Covid-19. It has passionate proponents, from a small group of scientists to the more conspiratorially-minded. But with a scattered evidence base of varying quality, what - if anything - do we know for sure about Ivermectin? And is uncovering the truth a more complex process than some appreciate?

With Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz from the University of Wollongong, Australia.

Producer: Nathan Gower

(Packets of the drug Ivermectin. Credit: Soumyabrata Roy/Getty Images)

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Mon 5 Jul 202109:50GMT
BBC World Service

More episodes

Previous

Scotland cases, flood risk and taxing the poor

Next

Are there 40 million Nigerians on Twitter?

See all episodes from More or Less

Broadcasts

  • Sat 3 Jul 202104:50GMT
    BBC World Service except East Asia & South Asia
  • Sun 4 Jul 202113:50GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Sun 4 Jul 202121:50GMT
    BBC World Service except East Asia & South Asia
  • Mon 5 Jul 202102:50GMT
    BBC World Service South Asia & East Asia only
  • Mon 5 Jul 202109:50GMT
    BBC World Service

Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU

Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU

Explore how numbers shape, and sometimes mislead us, with The Open University.

When can you trust statistics?

When can you trust statistics?

BBC Ideas discovers three easy ways to help make sense of statistics.

Podcast

  • More or Less

    Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life