A retrospective evaluation on the efficacy of Lopinavir/ritonavir and chloroquine to treat non-severe COVID-19 patients

https://doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0000000000002452

A retrospective study to summarize the clinical practices of non-severe patients with COVID-19 receiving the standard care, LPV/r or chloroquine was conducted. Of the 129 patients included in the study, 59 received the standard care, 51 received LPV/r, and 19 received chloroquine. The demographics and baseline characteristics were comparable among the three groups. The median duration of fever, median time from symptom onset to chest CT improvement and negative conversion of the nucleic acid were similar among the three groups. The median increase in Ct values of N and ORF1ab gene for patients receiving LPV/r or chloroquine or the standard care during the treatment course was 7.0 and 8.5, 8.0 and 7.6, 5.0 and 4.0, respectively. These figures were not found significantly different among the three groups.  Antiviral therapy using LPV/r or chloroquine seemed not to improve the prognosis or shorten the clinical course of COVID-19.