Researchers in Hong Kong have found that patients suffering milder illness caused by the new coronavirus recover more quickly if they are treated with a three-drug antiviral cocktail soon after symptoms appear.
Authors of the study, published in the Lancet on Friday, described the findings as “early but important”.
He said the treatment, which appeared safe in patients, was shown to “relieve symptoms, and reduce the risk to health-care workers by reducing the duration and quantity of viral shedding ”. Of those participating, 86 patients were given a two-week course of three medicines: interferon beta-1b, a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis; HIV drugs lopinavir-ritonavir; and ribavirin, used to treat hepatitis.Treatment began on average five days after symptoms started and all patients otherwise received standard care, including oxygen therapy.
The authors conceded several limitations with the trial, including that it was “open label” — people knew which drugs they were taking and there was no placebo. Both of these groups took equally long to clear the virus which, the authors suggested, meant that interferon was key to the shorter illness for the patients treated from the first week of symptoms.
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