(16 May 2020) Arbidol-favorable clinical response when arbidol is combined with LPV/r

Arbidol combined with LPV/r versus LPV/r alone against Corona Virus Disease 2019: A retrospective cohort study.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.03.002

In this retrospective cohort study, 16 patients received oral arbidol and LPV/r in the combination group and 17 received oral LPV/r only in the monotherapy group. Baseline clinical, laboratory, and chest CT characteristics were similar between groups. The SARS-CoV-2 could not be detected for 12(75%) of 16 patients’ nasopharyngeal specimens in the combination group after seven days, compared with 6 (35%) of 17 in the monotherapy group (p < 0·05). After 14 days, 15  of 16 and 9 of 17, respectively, SARS-CoV-2 could not be detected (p < 0·05). The chest CT scans were improving for 11(69%) of 16 patients in the combination group after seven days, compared with 5(29%) of
17 in the monotherapy group (p < 0·05). Overall, the apparent favorable clinical response with arbidol and LPV/r was observed. One possible implication of this is that, arbidol combined with LPV/r might benefit to delay of the progression of lung lesions and lower the possibility of respiratory and gastrointestinal transmission for decreasing the viral load of COVID-19 and containing a high fecal concentration.