This was an open-label, randomized trial comparing clinical outcomes of those on triple combination therapy to those on lopinavir-ritonavir alone, which found that early triple antiviral therapy was safe and superior to lopinavir-ritonavir alone in alleviating symptoms and shortening duration of viral shedding and hospital stay.
- Multi-center, prospective, open-label, randomized, phase 2 trial in adults with COVID-19 who were admitted to six hospitals in Hong Kong
- Patients were randomly assigned (2:1) to a either:
- Intervention group: 14-day combination of lopinavir 400 mg and ritonavir 100 mg every 12 h, ribavirin 400 mg every 12 h, and three doses of 8 million international units of interferon beta-1b on alternate days (combination group)
- Control group: 14 days of lopinavir 400 mg and ritonavir 100 mg every 12 hrs
- Primary endpoint was time to achieve a negative RT-PCR result for SARAS-CoV-2 by nasopharyngeal swab, numerous secondary endpoints.
- 86 in combination group, 41 in control group, all >18 years, with a national early warning score 2 (NEWS2) of at least 1, and symptom duration of 14 days or less upon recruitment
- The combination group had a significantly shorter median time from start of study treatment to negative nasopharyngeal swab (7 days [IQR 5–11]) than the control group (12 days [8–15]; hazard ratio 4·37 [95% CI 1·86–10·24], p=0·0010)
- No mortality between the groups.
