ArticleFrontiers in medicine2023
An open-label randomized controlled trial of leflunomide in patients with acute SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant infection.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drug treatments for mild or moderate covid-19: systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Pooled it
- Drug Repurposing as a Broad-Spectrum Strategy Against Coronaviruses: Frontiers in Mechanisms and Clinical Translation.Viruses · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of leflunomide for the treatment of acute, symptomatic COVID-19. Methods: A single-center, open-label, randomized controlled trial was performed during an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in December 2022. Symptomatic patients within 5 days of COVID-19 onset were randomly allocated to receive 5 days of either symptomatic treatment with leflunomide or symptomatic treatment alone. The primary endpoint was time to sustained clinical recovery. Results: Fifty-seven participants were randomized into two groups: 27 received leflunomide plus symptomatic treatment and 30 were assigned to symptomatic treatment alone. Participants treated with leflunomide had a shorter fever duration [3.0 interquartile range (IQR, 2.0-4.0) days and 4.0 (IQR, 3.0-6.0) days, respectively ( Conclusion: In acute adult COVID-19 patients presenting within 5 days of symptom onset, leflunomide combined with symptomatic treatment reduced fever duration and viral shedding time. Clinical Trial Registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn/about.html, ChiCTR2100051684.
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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.