Hopes have risen for the antiviral medicines that would help patients recover from COVID-19. However, new research from China presented that an antiviral medicine combination failed to work.
Indeed, the antiviral medicines that once held a promise that it was a potential for the treatment of COVID-10, but it did not work in one of the initial major research studies in seriously sick patients.
This was according to researchers from China, the middle of this week. The researchers said, as published in The New England Journal of Medicine that they were no benefit observed in the said drug.
Kaletra, the antiviral medicine under study, is a combination of two antiviral drugs, ritonavir, and lopinavir, that are both usually used for HIV treatment.
There was no proven medical treatment for the COVID-19, and the doctors all over the world have been making extensively examining a great range of drugs with the hope of discovering something that can help the patients, more particularly those who are seriously ill.
Relatively several other antiviral medicines, as indicated in a New York Times article, have been regarded as potential treatments, although none has been proven effective, so far.
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Not Hopeless
Even though the test results disappointed the researchers, they shared that that "this single research was not the last word." For them, it was not a hopeless case, as they suggested for the conduct of more studies that may identify whether the drugs would work, should it be administered in the illness' earlier stage, or, if combined with other drugs.
The new results engaged 199 adults with an age range of 48 to 68 years old. These respondents went through hospital confinement and were severely sick with COVID-19 at Jin Yin-Tan Hospital located in Wuhan, China.
For two weeks or 14 straight days, 50 percent of the patients were given the standard care while the other 50 percent, were administered the antiviral drugs on top of the standard care which includes the usual treatment in a patient which includes oxygen (when needed), and other drugs needed for the patient to stay comfortable and stable.
Consequently, the medicines did not reduce the duration of the illness, neither prevent fatalities.
Other Options
In Seattle, some hospitals have registered to enroll their respective patients in a clinical test of the experimental antiviral medicine, called remdesivir, by Gilead.
The said test is controlled by a research study. This means that some patients will be picked randomly "to receive placebos" instead of the medicine - the "gold-standard type of research" to identify whether a particular medicine is really working and effective.
Harborview Medical Center's director of the intensive care unit, Dr. James Town said, the first choice for the majority of the patients in the study on remdesivir. Those not qualified for the study, the director said, could secure an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for the so-called, "compassionate use."
This is a special consent or authorization sometimes given to be given an experimental medicine outside of a study.
Dr. Town also said that after remdesivir, the next choice is hydroxychloroquine. This can be given to a patient who does not have any abnormality in his heart rhythm as this can make the medicine unsafe to take.
Moreover, for critically sick patients suffering from extreme inflammatory reactions also known as the cytokine storm, several centers try the medicine called tocilizumab.
Dr. Town also explained, there are more trials currently going on for some of the things "in some areas." All, he added, are swiftly enrolling, although their data are not expected to return in time for many places to make such a decision.
