Why is the cupboard of antivirals to treat Covid-19 looking so bare?
The WHO’s Solidarity clinical trial is focusing on drug treatments for the disease
about 3 hours ago
Dr Muiris Houston
Viruses, with their lack of cellular anatomy, offer fewer targets for drugs to penetrate and work on. Photograph: iStock
Where are all the drugs to treat Covid-19? As vaccines against the virus make such a welcome impact in preventing the disease, the cupboard of antivirals that could be used to treat the illness is notably bare.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) launched the Solidarity clinical trial, focused on antiviral drugs, in March 2020. By October, the trial had enrolled more than 11,000 participants hospitalised with Covid-19 in 30 countries. But it found that none of the four drugs that it tested – remdesivir, interferon, the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and the HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir – saved lives or shortened hospital stays. It seems that giving the drugs after hospitalisation is too late to have a useful effect.