Eduardo López-Medina

October 27, 2022

"Clinical research is the only way to find definitive answers to questions that limit the progress of medicine and the well-being of the population."

Dr. Eduardo López-Medina holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Valle (Cali, Colombia) and completed his pediatric training at the Miami Children’s Hospital. He is also a specialist in Infectious Diseases from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and an epidemiologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
In September 2020, he completed the Global Clinical Scholars Research Training program at Harvard University.

Currently, Dr. López-Medina serves as the Scientific Director of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Research Center (Cali, Colombia), Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Valle (Cali, Colombia), and Director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Service at Clínica Imbanaco-Grupo Quirónsalud.
Additionally, Dr. López-Medina is the Latin American representative on the Education Committee of the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, representative of the Latin American Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (SLIPE) on the Infectious Diseases Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, representative of Colombia on the Research and Immunocompromised Committees of SLIPE, and the Latin American representative to the International Pediatric Society.

Project Summary and Importance for Clinical Practice

Publication: Effect of Ivermectin on Time to Resolution of Symptoms Among Adults With Mild COVID-19 A Randomized Clinical Trial.

The research that led to this publication was a single-center clinical trial promoted by Clínica Imbanaco, initiated at the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, when ivermectin was commonly used for COVID-19 treatment despite the lack of scientific data supporting its use. Therefore, the research team, led by Dr. López-Medina, aimed to verify whether ivermectin reduced the duration of symptoms in adults with mild COVID-19 when administered in the early days of symptom onset.

The analysis was conducted with 400 patients, of whom 200 received ivermectin and 200 received a placebo. The placebo was a substance that smelled and tasted the same as ivermectin but did not contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Each participant in the trial was followed for a period of 21 days, with daily phone calls. Using the data obtained, the duration of symptoms was compared between the group receiving ivermectin and the group receiving placebo, with results showing that the duration of symptoms was similar in both groups. It was concluded that ivermectin did not reduce the duration of symptoms in adults with mild COVID-19 when started in the early days of the disease.

This clinical trial was carried out with high ethical and methodological standards, helping both physicians and patients worldwide to understand the role of this medication in the treatment of COVID-19. Subsequent clinical trials have confirmed the findings of this study, and ivermectin is no longer part of the COVID-19 treatment guidelines.

As Dr. López-Medina himself points out, "This study was the first to demonstrate the lack of efficacy of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19. Based on this study, different academic groups worldwide and treatment guidelines in various countries excluded ivermectin from their clinical practice for treating these patients. This allowed the medical and scientific community to focus on identifying other potentially useful molecules for this disease and reduce the widespread use of a drug that had no utility."