Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[EricHiggin]

haxxiy said:

Torillian said:

The unfortunate part is that "close to Ivermectin" is such a low bar when it comes to chemistry. Many drugs are "close to" one another in structure but that completely changes their efficacy. I'm sure that whatever Merck announces people will overlay it with ivermectin and say it's the same, just changed slightly to make it more expensive and to not "trigger the libs".

Ivermectin is a polyketide, so while there are many drugs that are similar-ish to it (including azithromycin!), I don't think any of them is even an antiviral. I just checked and Merck's is a nucleoside analogue, so far closer to a typical antiviral like remdesivir or acyclovir.

Though yeah, I can see that being widespread fake news given the company.

Well if Ivermectin is quite similar to azithromycin then odds are good it would be a no go for me. Almost everything like azithromycin doesn't play nice with me. Didn't plan on ever taking it anyway, but good to know what to perhaps expect in the future if I ever did consult my doctor about it if circumstances changed.

If that's the case then Mercks new pill shouldn't have to worry about false claims too much, or not for long anyway, assuming Pfizer gets its pill out around the same time. Problem with Ivermectin is you never hear, 'but what about these other drugs just like it that are available.' Anything out on it's own being singled out is much easier to dismiss since there's nothing being directly compared to it.