SynthesisJournal of the International AIDS Society2020
Systematic review of the efficacy and safety of antiretroviral drugs against SARS, MERS or COVID-19: initial assessment.
Synthesis in Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 161 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of arbidol versus lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019.Journal of medical virology · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Risk of adverse coronavirus disease 2019 outcomes for people living with HIV.AIDS (London, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Implications of COVID-19 in high burden countries for HIV/TB: A systematic review of evidence.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Pooled it
- Saudi Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine guidance on pregnancy and coronavirus disease 2019.Saudi medical journal · 2020Guideline
- Systematic review of the efficacy and safety of antiretroviral drugs against SARS, MERS or COVID-19: initial assessment.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2020Pooled it
- Atorvastatin and telmisartan do not reduce nasopharyngeal carriage of SARS-CoV-2 in mild or moderate COVID-19 in a phase IIb randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Mechanistic insight into anti-inflammatory activity of Fagonia cretica via COX inhibition and multimodal pharmacological evaluation.Inflammopharmacology · 2026Article
- PrEPped for COVID? The association between HIV-PrEP use and COVID-19 among men and gender diverse people who have sex with men: findings from three large online surveys in the United Kingdom.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Pharmacological Effects of Humic Substances and Their Signaling Mechanisms.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Morbidity and risk factors of COVID-19 in people with HIV-1 in Europe: A combined observational cohort and nested case-control study.HIV medicine · 2025Observational
- Unraveling the Interaction Mechanism of the Compounds From Cladophora sp to Recognize Prospective Larvicidal and Bactericidal Activities: In vitro and In Silico Approaches.Molecular biotechnology · 2025Article
- Targetable elements in SARS-CoV-2 S2 subunit for the design of pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitors and vaccines.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- Factors Associated with Self-Medication during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Pakistan.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- Antiretroviral drug activity and potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19 and HIV infection.Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics · 2022Article
- Lopinavir/ritonavir, a new galenic oral formulation from commercial solid form, fine-tuned by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2022Article
- BCG Vaccination: A potential tool against COVID-19 and COVID-19-like Black Swan incidents.International immunopharmacology · 2022Review
- Scoping review of COVID-19-related systematic reviews and meta-analyses: can we really have confidence in their results?Postgraduate medical journal · 2022Article
- Repurposing of phytomedicine-derived bioactive compounds with promising anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential: Molecular docking, MD simulation and drug-likeness/ADMET studies.Saudi journal of biological sciences · 2022Article
- Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionSeveral antiretroviral drugs are being considered for the treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by a newly identified coronavirus, (SARS-CoV-2). We systematically reviewed the clinical outcomes of using antiretroviral drugs for the prevention and treatment of coronaviruses and planned clinical trials.
methodsThree databases were screened from inception to 30 March 2020 for studies reporting clinical outcomes of patients with SARS, MERS or COVID-19 treated with antiretrovirals.
resultsFrom an initial screen of 433 titles, two randomized trials and 24 observational studies provided clinical outcome data on the use of antiretroviral drugs; most studies reported outcomes using LPV/r as treatment. Of the 21 observational studies reporting treatment outcomes, there were three studies among patients with SARS, six studies among patients with MERS and 12 studies among patients with COVID-19. In one randomized trial 99 patients with severe COVID-19 illness were randomized to receive LPV/r (400/100 mg twice a day) and 100 patients to standard of care for 14 days: LPV/r was not associated with a statistically significant difference in time to clinical improvement, although LPV/r given within 12 days of symptoms was associated with shorter time to clinical improvement; 28 day mortality was numerically lower in the LPV/r group (14/99) compared to the control group (25/100), but this difference was not statistically significant. The second trial found no benefit. The certainty of the evidence for the randomized trials was low. In the observational studies 3 out of 361 patients who received LPV/r died; the certainty of evidence was very low. Three studies reported a possible protective effect of LPV/r as post-exposure prophylaxis. Again, the certainty of the evidence was very low due to uncertainty due to limited sample size.
conclusionsOn the basis of the available evidence it is uncertain whether LPV/r and other antiretrovirals improve clinical outcomes or prevent infection among patients at high risk of acquiring COVID-19.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.