A comparative study on the time to achieve negative nucleic acid testing and hospital stays between Danoprevir and Lopinavir/Ritonavir in the treatment of patients with COVID-19

Abstract BackgroundIn late December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first outbroke in Wuhan city, China, and has now become a global pandemic. However, there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19.MethodsThis study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ninth Hospital of Nanchang. This study enrolled 33 COVID-19 patients in the nineth hospital of Nanchang from January 27th to February 24th, 2020. Clinical indexes of patients upon admission/discharge were examined. Patients were divided into two groups according to different treatment plans (Danoprevir; Lopinavir/Ritonavir). The days to achieve negative nucleic acid testing and the days of hospital stays were counted and statistically analyzed.ResultsCOVID-19 patients treated with Danoprevir or Lopinavir/Ritonavir were all improved and discharged. Indexes like blood routine, inflammation and immune-related indexes were significantly recovered after treatment. Additionally, under the circumstance that there was no significant difference in patients’ general information between the two groups, we found that the mean time to achieve negative nucleic acid testing and hospital stays of patients treated with Danoprevir both were significantly shorter than those of patients with Lopinavir/Ritonavir.ConclusionCollectively, applying Danoprevir is a good treatment plan for COVID-19 patients.Highlight1. The average time to achieve negative nucleic acid testing of COVID-19 patients treated with Danoprevir was obviously shorter than that of patients treated with Lopinavir/Ritonavir;2. The average time of hospital stays of COVID-19 patients treated with Danoprevir was significantly shorter than that of patients treated with Lopinavir/Ritonavir.