Abstract
(Background) Lopinavir-ritonavir (LPV/RTV) is a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antiviral combination that has been considered for the treatment of COVID-19 disease. (Aim) This systematic review aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of LPV/RTV in COVID-19 patients in the published research. (Methods) A protocol was developed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. Articles were selected for review from 8 electronic databases. This review evaluated the effects of LPV/RTV alone or in combination with standard care ± interferons/antiviral treatments compared to other therapies, regarding duration of hospital stay, risk of progressing to invasive mechanical, time to virological cure and body temperature normalization, cough relief, radiological progression, mortality and safety. (Results) A consensus was reached to select 32 articles for full-text screening; only 14 articles comprising 9036 patients were included in this study; and eight of these were included for meta-analysis. Most of these studies did not report positive clinical outcomes with LPV/RTV treatment. In terms of virological cure, three studies reported less time in days to achieve a virological cure for LPV/RTV arm relative to no antiviral treatment (−0.81 day; 95% confidence interval (CI), −4.44 to 2.81; p = 0.007, I2 = 80%). However, the overall effect was not significant (p = 0.66). When comparing the LPV/RTV arm to umifenovir arm, a favorable affect was observed for umifenovir arm, but not statically significant (p = 0.09). In terms of time to body normalization and cough relief, no favorable effects of LPV/RTV versus umifenovir were observed. The largest trials (RECOVERY and SOLIDARITY) have shown that LPV/RTV failed to reduce mortality, initiation of invasive mechanical ventilation or hospitalization duration. Adverse events were reported most frequently for LPV/RTV (n = 84) relative to other antivirals and no antiviral treatments. (Conclusions) This review did not reveal any significant advantage in efficacy of LPV/RTV for the treatment of COVID-19 over standard care, no antivirals or other antiviral treatments. This result might not reflect the actual evidence.
Highlights
Since the emergence of an unknown viral infection with its first cases in China in December 2019 and following the identification of this infection as 2019-new coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV, known as COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1], the world has worked to find effective therapeutics and vaccinations to treat hundreds of thousands of affected patients and to reduce the spread of this global pandemic [2].As of 2 June 2020, there were 1104 registered clinical trials of COVID-19 therapeutics or vaccinations worldwide that either had ongoing or were recruiting patients; at that stage no drug or vaccine had officially been approved for COVID-19 [2,3]
This systematic review included 14 articles relating to the efficacy and safety of LPV/RTV in COVID-19 patients, with a total of 9036 patients included, and only eight articles, that comprised 8438 patients had findings on the efficacy and safety of LPV/RTV alone or in combination with standard care ± interferons/antiviral treatments compared to other therapies in the treatment of COVID-19, were deemed legible for quantitative synthesis [26,27,28,29,32,33,34,36]
A favorable therapeutic effect for umifenovir was observed in a small cohort study when the drug was combined with LPV/RTV treatment in (n = 16) COVID-19 patients rather than LPV/RTV alone (n = 17) [38]; it should be noted that the treatment of LPV/RTV alone groups (n = 127) versus umifenovir plus LPV/RTV groups (n = 69) did not reveal any significant mean difference between the two groups in terms of virological cure at day seven [26,32,37]
Summary
As of 2 June 2020, there were 1104 registered clinical trials of COVID-19 therapeutics or vaccinations worldwide that either had ongoing or were recruiting patients; at that stage no drug or vaccine had officially been approved for COVID-19 [2,3] These trials have produced mixed and conflicting results of positive or negative outcomes and inclusive evidence of efficacy or safety, that render the suspension of some trials inevitable, as in the hydroxychloroquine trials, which was suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) in light of safety concerns [4]. A recent systematic review included 32 studies for a total 29,192 studied participants found treatment with hydroxychloroquine confers no benefit in terms of mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 compared to standard care [7]
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