World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a large, open-label, randomised-controlled trial involving hospital inpatients to evaluate the effects of remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon beta-1a on mortality caused by Covid-19. The results demonstrated that no trial drug had any effect on mortality, either in the whole study group or in any subgroup according to age, ventilation status or glucocorticoid use. WHO experts also reported that no trial drug reduced the initiation of mechanical ventilation among patients who were not receiving ventilation. Moreover, the duration of hospitalisation was not reduced by any trial drug. The unpromising findings from WHO disproved early hopes based on previous smaller or non-randomised studies.

Keyword: Covid-19, WHO, remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, interferon

Reference

WHO Solidarity Trial Consortium. N Engl J Med. 2020: DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2023184