AIDS Drug Kaletra Has No Clear Effect on Covid-19 Patients, Chinese Researchers Say
Tong Lan
DATE:  Mar 19 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
AIDS Drug Kaletra Has No Clear Effect on Covid-19 Patients, Chinese Researchers Say AIDS Drug Kaletra Has No Clear Effect on Covid-19 Patients, Chinese Researchers Say

(Yicai Global) March 19 -- Kaletra, and AIDS treatment better known as Lopinavir and Ritonavir, has no significant positive effect on patients with severe symptoms of the novel coronavirus, but causes severe side effects, according to a group of Chinese experts.

In clinical trials, 99 severely ill Covid-19 patients took Kaletra -- made by the US biotech firm AbbVie -- but their recovery progress was not much better than that of 100 equally ill patients who received standard therapy, Prof. Cao Bin and his team from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital said in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday.

Clinical results also showed that Kaletra was more likely to have side effects in patients with severe symptoms, causing them to often have gastrointestinal problems, the paper said, adding that 13.8 percent of patients stopped taking Kaletra ahead of schedule because of gastrointestinal issues.

Cao's team is also doing clinical tests on the effect of anti-cancer drug Remdesivir, developed by US biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences, in curing Covid-19 patients. The study has attracted attention worldwide, with clinical results expected next month.

Another anti-AIDS drug, Darunavir, which has also drawn the attention of doctors and researchers globally, has been recommended by a team led by epidemiologist Li Lanjuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. But the drug's developer, US firm Johnson & Johnson, issued a statement on March 16 saying there was no evidence that Darunavir could be used to treat coronavirus patients.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Peter Thomas

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Keywords:   Kaletra,Drug,Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia