Australian scientists have found that a common anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin killed SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The research team made up of Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) and the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity in Australia.
It is an anti-parasitic drug that has also been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses including HIV, dengue, influenza and Zika virus.
It is currently used as a treatment for strongyloidiasis, a parasitic disease caused by roundworms.
It was published in the journal Antiviral Research.
Ivermectin was first developed in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981.
It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.