Drug trio shortens duration and alleviates coronavirus symptoms, study says
May 11, 2020 / By Chris Ciaccia | Fox News
Though there is no known scientific cure for COVID-19 yet, a three-drug combination appears to alleviate symptoms and shorten the duration of hospital stays, according to a new study.
The research, published in The Lancet, notes the combination of drugs interferon beta-1b, lopinavir–ritonavir and ribavirin worked better than the lopinavir–ritonavir combination alone on patients who have “mild to moderate” COVID-19 symptoms.
“This study showed that early treatment with the triple combination of antiviral therapy with interferon beta-1b, lopinavir–ritonavir, and ribavirin is safe and highly effective in shortening the duration of virus shedding, decreasing cytokine responses, alleviating symptoms, and facilitating the discharge of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19,” researchers wrote. “Furthermore, the triple antiviral therapy rapidly rendered viral load negative in all specimens, thereby reducing infectiousness of the patient.”
The researchers found that the group that was given the three-drug combination tested negative for the virus after seven days, while the control group tested negative after 12 days.
