Safety and efficacy of Artemisinin-Piperaquine for treatment of COVID-19: an open-label, non-randomized, and controlled trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106216

In an open label clinical trial (ChiCTR2000033049), Forty-one patients with confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled in the study and divided into two groups: artemisinin-piperaquine (AP) group (n=23) and control group (n=18). The primary outcome was the time taken to reach undetectable levels of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the percentage of participants with undetectable SARS-CoV-2 on day 7, 10, 14, and 28. The mean time to reach undetectable viral RNA (mean+/- standard deviation) was 10.6+/-1.1 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.4-12.8) for AP group and 19.3+/-2.1 days (95% CI: 15.1-23.5) for the control group. The percentage of patients with undetectable viral RNA on day 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28 were 26.1%, 43.5%, 78.3%, 100%, and 100%, respectively, in the AP group and 5.6%, 16.7%, 44.4%, 55.6% and 72.2%, respectively, in the control group. The CT imaging within ten days post-treatment showed no significant differences between the two groups (p>0.05). Both groups had mild adverse events.  In patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, the time to reach undetectable SARS-CoV-2 was significantly shorter in the AP group than that in the control group.

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