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Thursday, Apr 23, 2020

Are HIV medications being studied as treatments for COVID-19?

Caroline Parker, Gigafact Foundry
yes

The World Health Organization and the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine confirm that studies of Lopinavir and Ritonavir, two antiretroviral medications used in combination to treat HIV, are underway to gauge their potential use in treating COVID-19. They emphasize that evidence is not strong enough to prove the treatment is effective against the disease.

The South Korean Journal of Medical Science reports that the combination of antiretroviral medications, known as LPV/r, was used to treat some of the country's first COVID-19 patients. South Korean researchers conducted a study of LPV/r against SARS, a disease caused by another type of coronavirus that was contained relatively quickly after it emerged in 2003.

Sources

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