Promising Drug Fails First COVID-19 Trial

A potential coronavirus treatment, Kaletra, has failed to deliver in a clinical trial done in China. 

AbbVie's HIV drug held promise as a potential treatment for COVID-19. However, it did not produce promising results in one of the first coronavirus trials on seriously ill patients. 

Doctors around the world have been testing a wide array of drugs, some repurposed from old medicine, in hopes of finding something that will work for those who are severely ill. 

The study involved 199 patients. For 14 days, 99 people received the HIV drug while the other 100 received only standard medical care. Patients who received the drug were given two doses a day. 

Abbvie's Kaletra, a combination of antiviral drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, did not improve clinical symptoms, extend life span, or reduce the detectable amount of the virus in patients infected with a severe case of COVID-19.

Researchers at the Jin Yin-Tan Hospital concluded the drug made no significant difference and did not offer benefits over standard care.

14% of the patients involved in the trial stopped early due to side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. 

The group was composed mostly of 58-year-old patients who have developed symptoms 13 days before they were given the first dose of the HIV drug in the clinical trial.

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A related editorial applauded the researchers' "heroic effort" for running the study under extreme pressure and dire circumstances. 

It praised healthcare workers who provided patient care despite belonging to the highest risk group for the development of the disease. 

Earlier reports from China showed doctors giving patients antibiotics and antiviral drugs to potentially stop their conditions from getting worse due to other viruses and bacterial infection.

Other patients who were suffering from severe inflammation reportedly received steroids and other drugs.

There has been no solid evidence on any drug that works on coronavirus yet. Doctors and researchers are pulling out all stops and trying approaches where preliminary data suggests promising outcomes.

Other hospitals have started giving coronavirus patients hydroxychloroquine, which is a malaria drug that could keep COVID-19 from invading human cells, according to lab studies.

China and France reports suggest patients benefit from the anti-malaria pill. However, there is very limited data on the claim. 

Hospitals in Seattle have signed up to be part of a clinical trial on the antiviral drug remdesivir.  Gilead, the lead researcher, will perform the trail in a controlled environment where some patients will receive placebos rather than the drug. 

Other health centers are giving critically ill patients with intense inflammatory reactions a drug called tocilizumab---a drug normally used to treat severe arthritis. 

The scientists involved in the previous study are still hopeful. They suggested more studies should be done to fully determine whether Kaletra could help if given earlier or in combination with other drugs.

All findings from the Kaletra trial were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.