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. 2020 Jul;81(1):e21-e23.
doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.03.060. Epub 2020 Apr 10.

Arbidol monotherapy is superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19

Zhen Zhu  1 , Zhaohui Lu  2 , Tianmin Xu  3 , Cong Chen  4 , Gang Yang  2 , Tao Zha  5 , Jianchun Lu  6 , Yuan Xue  7
Affiliations

Arbidol monotherapy is superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19

Zhen Zhu et al. J Infect. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol have been previously used to treat acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication in clinical practice; nevertheless, their effectiveness remains controversial. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral effects and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol in patients with the 2019-nCoV disease (COVID-19). Fifty patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were divided into two groups: including lopinavir/ritonavir group (34 cases) and arbidol group (16 cases). Lopinavir/ritonavir group received 400 mg/100mg of Lopinavir/ritonavir, twice a day for a week, while the arbidol group was given 0.2 g arbidol, three times a day. Data from these patients were retrospectively analyzed. The cycle threshold values of open reading frame 1ab and nucleocapsid genes by RT-PCR assay were monitored during antiviral therapy. None of the patients developed severe pneumonia or ARDS. There was no difference in fever duration between the two groups (P=0.61). On day 14 after the admission, no viral load was detected in arbidol group, but the viral load was found in 15(44.1%) patients treated with lopinavir/ritonavir. Patients in the arbidol group had a shorter duration of positive RNA test compared to those in the lopinavir/ritonavir group (P<0.01). Moreover, no apparent side effects were found in both groups. In conclusion, our data indicate that arbidol monotherapy may be superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19.

Keywords: Antiviral therapy; COVID-19; Ct value; Pneumonia; SARS-CoV2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
Dynamic changes of cycle threshold (Ct) values during treatment with lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol. Ct, cycle threshold.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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