Five Oregonians have been hospitalized recently due to the consumption of an antiparasitic drug, ivermectin, despite no clinical data supporting its use in the protection against COVID-19.

Food and Drug Administration approved ivermectin tablets to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms, according to the FDA website.

Some topical forms of the drug are approved to treat head lice and skin conditions, like rosacea.

“Initial lab research indicated ivermectin might be able to treat COVID-19, but when tested in human trials, ivermectin did not decrease symptoms or cure the disease.”.

Robert Hendrickson, medical director of the Oregon Poison Center at OHSU and professor of emergency medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, said that after reviewing many of the human studies done on the drug, there is no evidence that there is a decrease in symptoms or a cure for COVID-19.