HIV-1 Drug Combination Doesn’t Work on COVID-19 Patients

The HIV-1 antiviral drug combination lopinavir-ritonavir, marketed by AbbVie under the brand name Kaletra, has shown no benefit in reducing all-cause mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the UK’s RECOVERY trial.

Patients were randomly allocated to either the standard of care, which 3,424 patients received, or the standard of care plus a study drug, which they took orally for 10 days or until discharge, according to the study report in The Lancet.

Between March 19 and June 29, 374 or 23 percent of the patients who were getting the standard of care plus lopinavir–ritonavir died, as did 767 or 22 percent of the patients who were getting the standard of care by itself.

“Results were consistent across all prespecified subgroups of patients,” the study authors said, adding that there was no significant difference in the proportion of patients discharged from the hospital alive within 28 days.

“These findings do not support the use of lopinavir–ritonavir for treatment of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19,” the researchers conclude.

Read the full study report here: bit.ly/36LooiK. — Martin Berman-Gorvine