A review of the anti-viral effects of ivermectin

*1Adegboro, B., 2Lawani, O. A., 3Oriaifo, S. E., and 4Abayomi, S. A.
Departments of

1Medical Microbiology & Immunology, and

3Clinical Pharmacology, Nile University, Abuja, Nigeria

2Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria

4Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Nigeria *Correspondence to: boazadegboro@gmail.com

Abstract:
Ivermectin is an avermectin which is a group of pentacyclic sixteen-membered lactone (macrocyclic lactone disaccharide) derived from the soil bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis. It is a semi-synthetic broad-spectrum anti-helminthic, anti-viral and anti-cancer agent. It has a wide safety margin with low adverse effects when it is used orally. It has, however, so far only been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a broad spectrum anti-parasitic agent. Because ivermectin also has broad activities as an anti-viral agent, we herein review its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic activities, as well as the in vitro and in vivo studies conducted on the drug. It is hoped that this work will pave way for ivermectin being seriously considered as an addition to the drugs available for the management of patients with COVID-19. Continue reading “A review of the anti-viral effects of ivermectin”

Microbiome: pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and drug/xenobiotic interactions

Ojezele, M. O.

Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Delta State University, Nigeria Correspondence to: matlar2002@gmail.com, +2348033923332

Abstract:

The participation of microbiota in myriads of physiological, metabolic, genetic and immunological processes shows that they are a fundamental part of human existence and health maintenance. The efficiency of drugs’ absorption depends on solubility, stability, permeability and metabolic enzymes produced by the body and gut microbiota. Two major types of microbiota-drug interaction have been identified; direct and indirect. The use of antibiotics is a direct means of targeting intestinal microbes and short-term use of antibiotic can significantly alter the microbiome composition. It is noteworthy that not every microbial drug metabolism is of benefit to the host as some drugs can shut down microbial processes as observed in the co-administration of antiviral sorivudine with fluoropyridimide resulting in a toxic buildup of fluoropyridimide metabolites from blockade of host fluoropyridimide by the microbial-sorivudine metabolite. It has been reported that many classes of drugs and xenobiotics modify the gut microbiome composition which may be detrimental to human health. Microbiome-drug interaction may be beneficial or detrimental resulting in either treatment success or failure which is largely dependent on factors such as microbial enzymes, chemical composition of candidate drug, host immunity and the complex relationship that exists with the microbiome. The effects of microbiota on pharmacology of drugs and vice versa are discussed in this review.

Keywords: microbiome; pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, drug, xenobiotic

Received September 27, 2019; Revised November 30, 2019; Accepted December 3, 2019
Copyright 2020 AJCEM Open Access. This article is licensed and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attrition 4.0 International License (//creativecommmons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided credit is given to the original author(s) and the source. Continue reading “Microbiome: pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and drug/xenobiotic interactions”