An exploratory randomized, controlled study on the efficacy and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir or arbidol treating adult patients hospitalized with mild/moderate COVID-19 (ELACOI)

Yueping Li; Zhiwei Xie; Weiyin Lin; Weiping Cai; Chunyan Wen; Yujuan Guan; Xiaoneng Mo; Jian Wang; Yaping Wang; Ping Peng; Xudan Chen; Wenxin Hong; Guangming Xiao; Jinxin Liu; Lieguang Zhang; Fengyu Hu; Feng Li; Feng Li; Fuchun Zhang; Xilong Deng; Linghua Li

The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.19.20038984 doi: medRxiv preprint estimated number of patients admitted to the hospital. We ultimately recruited 86 patients, who were randomly assigned (2:2:1) into 3 groups as follows: In group A (LPV/r group), 34 patients were administered lopinavir (200mg) boosted by ritonavir (50mg) (orally administed, twice daily, 500 mg, each time for 7-14 days). In group B (arbidol group), 35 patients were given arbidol (100mg) (orally administed, 200mg three times daily for 7-14 days). In group C (control group), 17 patients were not given any antiviral therapy. All three groups were followed for up to 21 days. All three groups were treated with supportive care and effective oxygen therapy if in need. 5 Antiviral treatment was discontinued for patients who 1) had been treated for more than 7 days and tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid in two consecutive tests separated by more than 24 hours, or 2) were discharged from hospital, or 3) had intolerable side effects.