This archive report was first published on 30 June 2020.
June 30, 2020, marked a significant milestone in the ongoing fight against COVID-19 as researchers at the University of Oxford announced that a repurposed HIV drug combination failed to improve patients' chances of survival.
The drug in question, Kaletra, uses a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, which are typically used to treat HIV. However, in the context of COVID-19, the results were disappointing.
According to Martin Landray, deputy chief investigator for the trial, "The results from this trial, together with those from other large randomized trials, should inform revisions to (current) guidelines and changes to the way individual patients are treated."
Notably, the trial found that lopinavir-ritonavir made no difference in short-term mortality rates, hospital stay lengths, or illness progression to ventilation. The results do not include patients on ventilators due to the challenges associated with administering drugs to them.
The trial, part of Oxford's RECOVERY trial, involved over 11,800 patients from across Britain and evaluated a range of proposed COVID-19 treatments. In total, 1,596 patients were treated with lopinavir-ritonavir, and 3,376 received standard care.
The results were released after review by an independent committee and confirmed a smaller study published in March in the New England Journal of Medicine, which also concluded that lopinavir-ritonavir did not help COVID-19 patients.
Earlier this month, the Oxford trial published results showing that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine was ineffective as a COVID-19 treatment. U.S. President Donald Trump was a strong advocate for the drug's use and revealed in May that he had been taking it as a preventative measure.
