A drug which had previously been used used to treat head lice has undergone preliminary studies for use in the fight against the coronavirus, according to reports.
The antiparasitic drug Ivermectin has already shown "promising results".
Experts have expressed cautious optimism that ivermectin also could be used to treat Covid-19, ABC News reported.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Nirav Shah told the network that there is hope that a breakthrough could be found.
“Finding a safe, affordable, readily available therapy like ivermectin, if it proves effective with rigorous evaluation, has the potential to save countless lives," he said.
“There are numerous examples of drugs with in vitro activity not proving effective in human studies.
“That being said, given there are no proven therapies against Covid-19 to date and we are in the midst of a pandemic, drugs that show promise in early in vitro or observational studies such as ivermectin should be rigorously evaluated to understand safety and effectiveness.”
Ivermectin, which was developed in the 1970s and 1980s, was first used to treat cattle.
But the drug is now on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines.
Dr Kylie Wagstaff, the leader of the team from Melbourne’s Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, is hopeful.
“We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours, there was a really significant reduction in it,” the doctor told ABC.
"The next step is to determine the correct human dosage — ensuring the doses shown to effectively treat the virus in vitro are safe for humans."
They are not the only medics hopeful of a breakthrough.
“I think between the two studies, there is some optimism — but I would remain cautious,” Dr Christopher DeSimone, an infectious disease specialist, warned.
