Table 1.
Early clinical evidence for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2
| S. no. | Study name | Study type | Intervention (n) | Dose | Control group (n) | Dose | Outcome/end points | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gautret et al. [17] | Prospective cohort study | Hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with azithromycin (26) | 600-mg hydroxychloroquine daily and 500-mg azithromycin on day 1 followed by 250 mg for days 2–5 | Supportive care (16) | – | Virologic cure | Favors treatment with azithromycin |
| 2 | Chen et al. [21] | Prospectively randomized study | Hydroxychloroquine (15) | 400-mg hydroxychloroquine for 5 days plus conventional treatment | Conventional supportive treatment (15) | – | Virologic cure | No significant difference in the rates of virologic cure |
| 3 | Zhaowei Chen et al. [18] | Randomized controlled study | Hydroxychloroquine (31) | 400-mg hydroxychloroquine for 5 days | Standard supportive care (31) | – | Virologic and clinical outcomes | Treatment with hydroxychloroquine significantly improved virologic cure and alleviation of clinical symptoms |
| 4 | Molina et al. [22] | Single-arm, prospective, cohort study | Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin (11) | 600-mg hydroxychloroquine daily for 10 days and 500-mg azithromycin on day 1 followed by 250 mg for days 2–5 | – | Virologic cure | No virologic cure in majority of the patients | |
| 5 | Chorin et al. [20] | Single-arm study | Hydroxychloroquine (84) | – | Safety | Hydroxychloroquine extended the QT interval, increasing the risk of arrythmia | ||
| 6 | Million et al. [19] | Single-arm, retrospective, cohort study | Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin (1061) | 200 mg 3 times a day for 10 days and 500-mg azithromycin on day 1 followed by 250 mg for days 2–5 | – | Virologic and clinical cure | High rates of virologic cure and clinical alleviation of symptoms were observed in patients | |
| 7 | Magognoli et al. [23] | Retrospective, propensity-score-matched cohort | Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin (210) | Not available | Supportive care (158) | – | Death and rates of ventilation |
Lower rates of death in the control group Similar rates of ventilation in the intervention and control groups |
| 8 | Tang et al. [24] | Randomized controlled study | Hydroxychloroquine plus standard of care (75) | 1200 mg daily for 3 days followed by 800 mg daily | Standard of care alone (75) | – | Virologic cure | Virologic cure rates were similar in both the intervention and control groups after 28 days of treatment |
| 9 | Holshue et al. [28] | Case report | Remdesivir (1) | Not available | – | – | Virologic cure | Reduction in viral load observed; response might be due to immunity or supportive care |
| 10 | Grein et al. [29] | Single-arm, prospective cohort | Remdesivir (61) | 200 mg on day 1 and 100 mg for days 2–9 | – | – | Clinical cure | 68% of the patients experienced clinical improvement of symptoms |
| 11 | Wang et al. [30] | Randomized controlled trial | Remdesivir (158) | 200 mg on day 1 and 100 mg for days 2–9 | Supportive care (79) | - | Clinical cure | No significant difference in the time to clinical improvement among the groups |
| 12 | Zha et al. [34] | Prospective cohort | Corticosteroid (11) | 40-mg methylprednisolone once daily or twice a day | Supportive care (20) | – | Clinical cure | No significant improvement in patients treated with corticosteroids |
| 13 | Wang et al. [36] | Prospective cohort | Early, low-dose, corticosteroids (26) | 1–2 mg/kg/day for 5–7 days | Supportive care (20) | Clinical cure | Significant improvement in patients treated with corticosteroids | |
| 14 | Lu et al. [37] | Retrospective cohort | Adjuvant corticosteroid (151) | hydrocortisone-equivalent dosage range: 100–800 mg/d | Supportive care (93) | – | Clinical cure | No significant difference among the treatment groups |
| 15 | Shen et al. [38] | Case series | Convalescent plasma (5) | > 1:1000 end point dilution titer | – | Virologic and clinical cure | Resolution of clinical symptoms and reduction in viral load | |
| 16 | Duan et al. [39] | Case series | Convalescent plasma (10) | > 1:640 neutralizing antibody titer | – | Virologic and clinical cure | Resolution of clinical symptoms and reduction in viral load | |
| 17 | Young et al. [40] | Case report | Convalescent plasma (2) | Optical density of IgG of 0.586 divided into 2 doses at 12-h interval | – | Virologic and clinical cure | Resolution of clinical symptoms and reduction in viral load | |
| 18 | Zhu et al. [44] | RCT | Arbidol (16) | 0.2-g arbidol 3 times a day | Lopinavir/ritonavir (34) | 400 mg/100 mg of lopinavir/ritonavir twice a day for a week | Virologic cure | Arbidol is superior in cases with mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV infection |
| 19 | Li et al. [45] | RCT | Arbidol and lopinavir/ritonavir (69) | 200-mg lopinavir and 50-mg rotinavir twice a day or 200 mg arbidol 3 times a day | No antiviral drug (17) | – | Virologic cure | No significant difference among the treatment groups |
| 20 | Ye et al. [43] | Prospective cohort | Lopinavir/ritonavir plus adjuvant treatment (42) | 80-mg lopinavir and 20-mg ritonavir | Adjuvant treatment alone (5) | – | Clinical cure | Treatment with lopinavir/ritonavir led to normalization of body temperature |
| 21 | Xu et al. [41] | Prospective cohort | Tocilizumab (20) | 400–800 mg | – | – | Clinical cure | All the patients experienced normalization of body temperature and were very low stable after 1 day of treatment |
| 22 | Luna et al. [42] | Case report | Tocilizumab (1) | 8 mg/kg | – | Clinical cure | Patient’s SpO2 improved from 80 to 97% and the patient was apyrexic |