(afp)
Scientists in Hong Kong have reported successful treatment of the coronavirus with a three-drug cocktail. The microbiologist Kwok-Yung Yuen wrote in the study published in the journal “The Lancet” that the combination of the various active ingredients in patients with a mild to moderate course of the disease quickly reduced the number of viruses in the body. However, it still has to be investigated whether this is also the case with seriously ill corona patients.
127 corona infected people in six different hospitals in Hong Kong participated in the study. 86 of them received the antiviral drug cocktail consisting of the agent interferon beta-1b used to treat multiple sclerosis, the combination of active ingredients used against HIV, lopinavir / ritonavir, and the hepatitis drug ribavirin.
The remaining study participants only received the HIV drug lopinavir / ritonavir. Treatment began on average five days after the patient first showed symptoms of Covid 19 disease.
In the study participants treated with the drug combination, the tests for the coronavirus were negative on average after seven days. According to the study, this took an average of twelve days in the control group. With the help of the drug cocktail, the symptoms of the disease disappeared after an average of four days, twice as fast as with the other patients.
The study provided “early but important” insights, the authors wrote. They suggested further clinical tests, in which in particular the agent interferon beta-1b could be combined with another active substance.
–
