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Review
. 2011;87(2):13-28.
doi: 10.2183/pjab.87.13.

Ivermectin, 'wonder drug' from Japan: the human use perspective

Andy Crump  1 , Satoshi Ōmura
Affiliations
Review

Ivermectin, 'wonder drug' from Japan: the human use perspective

Andy Crump et al. Proc Jpn Acad Ser B Phys Biol Sci. 2011.

Abstract

Discovered in the late-1970s, the pioneering drug ivermectin, a dihydro derivative of avermectin--originating solely from a single microorganism isolated at the Kitasato Institute, Tokyo, Japan from Japanese soil--has had an immeasurably beneficial impact in improving the lives and welfare of billions of people throughout the world. Originally introduced as a veterinary drug, it kills a wide range of internal and external parasites in commercial livestock and companion animals. It was quickly discovered to be ideal in combating two of the world's most devastating and disfiguring diseases which have plagued the world's poor throughout the tropics for centuries. It is now being used free-of-charge as the sole tool in campaigns to eliminate both diseases globally. It has also been used to successfully overcome several other human diseases and new uses for it are continually being found. This paper looks in depth at the events surrounding ivermectin's passage from being a huge success in Animal Health into its widespread use in humans, a development which has led many to describe it as a "wonder" drug.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Molecular diagrams of avermectin and the di-hydro derivative, ivermectin.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Mali: an old man, blinded by onchocerciasis, with leopard skin on his legs and nodules on his abdomen. Credit line: WHO/TDR/Crump.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Life cycle of Onchocerca volvulus.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Effect of ivermectin and diethylcarbamazine (DEC) on microfilariae in the Anterior Chamber of the eye.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Effect of ivermectin and diethylcarbamazine (DEC) on microfilariae in the skin.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Life cycle of Wuchereria bancrofti.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Ghana: an old man co-infected with onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. He is partially sighted, with a worm nodule on his right leg and leopard skin on his left leg. He also displays elephantiasis of the left leg and has a large hydrocele. Credit line: WHO/TDR/Crump.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Trend in ivermectin treatments approved (1988–2008).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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