Abstract
Currently, there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. However, drugs previously developed to treat other viral infections are being tested to verify if they might also be effective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Twenty years ago, the F.D.A. approved Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) to treat HIV infection. LPV and ritonavir were initially purposed to inhibit 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL pro ) of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV and preliminary promising data on its efficacy for treating people infected with those viruses were available. Therefore, due to the high genetic similarities among those viruses and SARS-CoV-2, early during COVID-19 pandemic LPV/r was also proposed as one emergency treatment. We reviewed data from the literature about LPV/r treatment and SARS-CoV-2 infection, mainly focused on the efficacy and safety of this drugs for COVID-19 treatment. We can conclude that although up to date no clear benefit has been observed with the LPV/r treatment beyond standard care, its efficacy against SARS-COV-2 infection deserves further evaluations, particularly during the very early phase of the disease.
Keywords: COVID-19 treatment; Lopinavir; Protease inhibitor; Ritonavir; SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 Lopinavir, Ritonavir, SARS-CoV-2., COVID-19 treatment, Protease inhibitor, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, Treatment, viruses, SARS-CoV-2, viral infection, Efficacy, Lopinavir/ritonavir, SARS-CoV, SARS-COV-2 infection, COVID-19 pandemic, Genetic, Lopinavir, Ritonavir, Infection, drug, Antiviral treatment, 3CL pro, protease, virus, MERS-CoV, viral infections, COVID-19 treatment, Protease inhibitor, Viral, Efficacy and safety, HIV infection, similarity, emergency treatment, standard care, early phase, chymotrypsin, treat, effective, benefit, tested, virus, inhibit, the disease, approved, cause, LPV, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, Treatment, repurposing,