COVID-19 Drug Research: Both Arbidol and Lopinavir/Ritonavir Not Effective For Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 Patients
Source: COVID-19 Drug Research Apr 21, 2020 4 years, 8 months, 2 days, 9 hours, 4 minutes ago
COVID-19 Drug Research: A recent randomized, controlled study on the safety and efficacy of either lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or Arbidol, both antivirals that are used in some countries against HIV-1 and to treat influenza and respectively as treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, suggests that neither drug improves the clinical outcome of patients hospitalized with mild-to-moderate cases of the disease over supportive care.
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The clinical research findings were published in
Med, a new medical journal published by Cell Press. The pre-proof version is available here..
https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.com/pb-assets/products/coronavirus/MEDJ1.pdf
Co-senior author Dr Linghua Li, Vice Director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases of Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital in Guangzhou, China told Thailand Medical News, "We found that neither lopinavir/ritonavir nor Arbidol could benefit clinical outcomes for patients and that they might bring some side effects. Although the sample size is small, we believe it could still provide meaningful suggestions for proper application of LPV/r or Arbidol for COVID-19."
The medical researchers chose to study LPV/r and Arbidol because the antivirals had been selected as candidates for treating COVID-19 in a guidance issued on February 19, 2020, by the National Health Commission of China, based on in vitro cell tests and previous clinical data from SARS and MERS.
Other researchers had already found that LPV/r did not improve outcomes for patients with severe COVID-19.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-news-study-confirms-that-lopinavir%E2%80%93ritonavir-ineffective-in-treating-covid-19
Dr stressed, "It is important to know if lopinavir/ritonavir is effective for mild/moderate cases with COVID-19. If it is, the medicine could prevent mild/moderate cases from deteriorating to severe status and help reduce the mortality rate."
The clinical study assessed 86 patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, with 34 randomly assigned to receive LPV/r, 35 to Arbidol, and 17 with no antiviral medication as a control. All three groups showed similar outcomes at 7 and 14 days, with no differences between groups in the rates of fever reduction, cough alleviation, or improvement of chest CT scan. Patients in both drug groups experienced adverse events such as diarrhea, nausea, and loss of appetite during the follow-up period, while no apparent adverse event occurred in the control group.
Dr Li commented, "Our findings suggest that we need to cautiously consider before using these drugs. Researchers need to keep working to find a really effective antiviral regimen against COVID-19, but meanwhile, any conclusions about antiviral regimens need strict and scientific clinical trials and appropriate caution. “
Dr Li added, “The
;general public, however, shouldn't panic just because currently there's no specific antiviral medicine currently. Quarantine and good personal health protection could help us prevent people from getting infected with COVID-19, and even in case of infection, the present comprehensive treatment can still enable the vast majority of patients to return to health."
It should be noted however that a few Chinese studies demonstrated that Arbidol was a good post-exposure prophylaxis and was later used by most healthcare staff in China.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-coronavirus-research-shows-that-arbidol-could-help-in-post-exposure-prophylaxis-pep-of-covid-19-transmission-among-healthcare-workers
Thailand Medical News that has been tracking all COVID-19 drug research and repurposing studies would like to stress to date there are no drugs that have proven to be able to treat the COVID-19 disease and some of the antivirals being promoted by the big pharmas are actually more toxic and some of the studies and clinical studies done with massive amounts of money used to even ‘manipulate the results’. The public is urged to exhibit due diligence when drugs are being prescribed to you and you have the right to question, reject and also sue medical professionals, hospitals, health authorities and even researchers in case of adverse events.
We however strongly feel that Ivermectin (Vermectin) used in conjunction with other drugs and also supplements is a very ideal candidate for treating COVID-19 and we call for larger clinical trials and studies.
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