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HONG KONG: Researchers in Hong Kong on Saturday (May 9) found that patients suffering from a milder illness caused by the new outbreak of Covod-19 (coronavirus) recover more quickly if treated with an antiviral cocktail of three drugs. shortly after symptoms appear.
The authors of the study, published in The Lancet on Friday, described the findings as “early but important.”
They called for larger-scale research in critically ill patients to determine if the drug combination could also be a viable treatment for them.
“Our trial shows that early treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 with a triple combination of antiviral drugs can rapidly suppress the amount of virus in a patient’s body,” said Kwok-Yung Yuen, a professor at the University of Hong Kong. , who led the investigation.
He said the treatment, which seemed safe in patients, was shown to “alleviate symptoms and reduce the risk to healthcare workers by reducing the duration and amount of viral spread (when the virus is detectable and potentially transmissible)” .
Scientists are struggling to identify effective medications to use against the new coronavirus, but there is currently no treatment, cure, or vaccine.
The study tracked the virus in 127 adults admitted to six hospitals in Hong Kong after they tested positive.
Of the participants, 86 patients received a two-week course of three medications: interferon beta-1b, a medication used to treat multiple sclerosis; HIV drugs lopinavir-ritonavir; and ribavirin, used to treat hepatitis.
A randomized control group of 41 people received the lopinavir-ritonavir combination.
Treatment began on average five days after symptoms began, and all patients received standard care, including oxygen therapy.
The researchers then measured how long it took a swab test for the virus to turn negative.
They found that those who took all three drugs were able to clear the coronavirus in seven days on average (between five and 11 days), “significantly” shorter than the 12-day average for the control group.
Those on the three-drug regimen also saw complete relief from their symptoms on an average of four days, compared to eight for the control group.
The study was conducted between February 10 and March 20 in Hong Kong, where everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is admitted to the hospital.
The authors recognized several limitations with the trial, including that it was “open label”: people knew what medications they were taking and there was no placebo.
Furthermore, patients admitted more than seven days after the onset of symptoms did not receive interferon due to concerns that it might cause inflammation.
Of these, 34 received the combination of lopinavir-ritonavir and ribavirin, while 17 were in the control group.
Both groups also took time to clear the virus, which, the authors suggested, meant that interferon was key to the shorter illness for patients treated from the first week of symptoms.
“The future clinical study of dual antiviral therapy with interferon beta-1b as the backbone is warranted,” the study said.
In response to the study, Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said “it warrants consideration of adding interferon beta to the list of promising evidence-based treatments to test in additional randomized trials. .
“It has become clear from long experience that HIV is best treated with combinations of different drugs and this could also be the case with Covid-19,” he added. – AFP
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