Doctors are likely to know within two to three weeks whether drugs being used to treat patients infected with the new coronavirus are working, according to the World Health Organization
Two trials were expedited on the recommendation of the WHO’s experts. Patients in one are being given Kaletra, taken by people with HIV. The drug is a combination of two antiretrovirals, lopinavir and ritonavir. Scientists are awaiting the results from the first 200 people to be treated with it.
The other drug in trials is remdesivir, made by Gilead. It was tested during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2018 but it was not sufficiently effective against that virus.
The new trial of remdesivir will be “gold standard” and investigate how well it works in moderately and severely ill patients compared with others given a placebo.
The WHO’s director general said at a briefing there would be preliminary results within three weeks. The drugs chosen have been prioritised by the organisation’s research and development experts.
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