Efficacies of lopinavir/ritonavir and abidol in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the efficacies of lopinavir/ritonavir and abidol in the treatment of novel covonavirus pneumonia (NCP). Methods The clinical data of 134 patients with NCP receiving treatment at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center during January 20 to February 6, 2020 were retrospectively collected. All the patients received interferon-α2b spray and symptomatic supportive treatment, and 52 cases received oral lopinavir/ritonavir treatment, 34 cases received oral abidol treatment, the remaining 48 cases did not take any antiviral drugs. The efficacies of the three groups were compared, and Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. Results The 134 patients included 69 males (51.5%) and 65 females (48.5%), aged 35 to 62 years with the average of 48 years. The median time to temperature normalization in patients receiving abidol or lopinavir/ritonavir treatment was both six days after admission, and that was four days in the control group, with no significant difference (χ2=2.37, P=0.31). The median time for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negative in the respiratory specimens in the three groups was all seven days after admission, and the PCR negative rates at day seven after admission in lopinavir/ritonavir, abidol and control groups were 71.8% (28/39), 82.6% (19/23) and 77.1% (27/35), respectively, which were not significantly different (χ2=0.46, P=0.79). Radiological worsening at day seven was observed in comparable proportions of patients in the three groups, which were 42.3% (22/52), 35.3% (12/34) and 52.1% (25/48), respectively(χ2=2.38, P=0.30). Adverse reactions occurred in 17.3% (9/52), 8.8% (3/34) and 8.3% (4/48) patients, respectively in the three groups (χ2=2.33, P=0.33). Conclusions This study does not find any effects of lopinavir/ritonavir and abidol on relieving symptoms or accelerating virus clearance. The efficacies of these two drugs in NCP treatment need further investigation. Key words: Coronavirus infections; Pneumonia; Validation studies; 2019 novel coronavirus; Lopinavir/ritonavir; Abidol