The World Health Organization or WHO has stopped the trials of HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir as treatment for Covid-19 patients.
The WHO made the decision after finding out that as a combined treatment for hospitalized coronavirus patients, the HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir “produce little or no reduction in the mortality” of Covid-19 patients.
The WHO-led Solidarity Trial and a separate UK-led coronavirus trial of those HIV drugs as a potential treatment for Covid-19 had enrolled thousands of patients.
The Solidarity Trial aimed to discover an effective treatment for coronavirus patients. It started with five arms checking possible treatments: remdesivir; standard care; lopinavir/ritonavir; hydroxychloroquine; and lopanivir/ritonavir combined with interferon.
According to WHO, it will halt the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global study. The UN agency had already announced before that it was removing the malaria drug, which US President Donald Trump repeatedly touted despite several studies showing it produces no benefits.
“WHO today accepted the recommendation from the Solidarity Trial’s International Steering Committee to discontinue the trial’s hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms,” the WHO said in a statement.
Hydroxychloroquine is known for treating rheumatoid conditions like arthritis. The drug sparked interest earlier in the year after several small studies said it could help cure coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the WHO’s decision to stop its studies of hydroxychloroquine and the HIV drugs is based on trials on hospitalized Covid-19 patients. The move does not preclude studies of the drugs on non-hospitalized patients or as preventative treatments for individuals before and after being exposed to the virus.
Data from Johns Hopkins University has already recorded 11 million coronavirus cases and 527,647 Covid-19 deaths.
Remdesivir
Meanwhile, remdesivir has shown huge potential as a treatment for coronavirus. Gilead Sciences plans to sell remdesivir $390 per vial to developed countries and $3,120 for a US patient with commercial insurance.
The drugmaker announced it will offer remdesivir for $390 per vial to governments “of developed countries” worldwide. Meanwhile, the price for American private insurance companies will be at $520 per vial.
Gilead Sciences will ask a lower price for government programs like Medicare and higher for privately insured people.
The company noted that most patients who took remdesivir will get a five-day treatment course using six vials of remdesivir. This would make the government cost $2,340 for patients on the five-day treatment and $3,120 for commercially insured patients.
“At the level we have priced remdesivir and with government programs in place, along with additional Gilead assistance as needed, we believe all patients will have access,” Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day said in an open letter.
Even White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci lauded the trial testing of remdesivir as cure for coronavirus patients.
He said that Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug sets a new standard of care for COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Fauci told reporters that the data manifested a “clear-cut positive effect in diminishing time to recover.”
Moreover, the top health expert said that the average time of recovery for patients taking remdesivir was 11 days. Those in the placebo group had 15 days. He emphasized that the mortality benefit of remdesivir “has not yet reached statistical significance.”
