TABLE 2.
Summary of clinical efficacy of CPMs for COVID-19.
| No | Name of Chinese patent medicines | Main findings | Study design | Severity classification | Course of treatment | Clinical data | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lianhua Qingwen Capsule (LHQW) | ① Improve clinical symptoms of fever, fatigue, cough, expectoration, shortness of breath, moist crackles, chest distress, and appetite loss. ② Enhance the effective rate of cardinal symptom. ③ Reduce the proportion of normal to heavy. | Retrospective study; LHQW group: LHQW + conventional western therapy (n = 63) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 38) | Medical observation period | 10 days | ① LHQW 86.7% vs. control 67.7%, p < 0.05 | Lu et al. (2020) |
| ② LHQW 55.6% vs. control 30.6%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ③ LHQW 82.5% vs. control 58.6%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑤ Shortness of breath: LHQW 68.2% vs. control 20.0%, p < 0.05; moist crackles: LHQW 56.0% vs. control 20.0%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑩ Fever: LHQW 6 days vs. control 7 days, p = 0.17 | |||||||
| ⑭ LHQW 6.40% vs. control 15.8%, p > 0.05 | |||||||
| Retrospective study; LHQW group: LHQW + conventional western therapy (n = 51) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 51) | Ordinary | 7 days | ① LHQW 83.7% vs. control 61.0%, p < 0.05 | Cheng et al. (2020) | |||
| ② LHQW 61.3% vs. control 34.3%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ③ LHQW 62.2% vs. control 35.9%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑤ Expectoration: LHQW 55.0% vs. control 15.8%; shortness of breath: LHQW 61.5% vs. control 14.3%, p < 0.05; chest distress: LHQW 54.6% vs. control 15.8%, p < 0.05; appetite loss: LHQW 34.8% vs. control 7.70%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑥ LHQW 54.9% vs. control 45.1%, p > 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑫ LHQW 86.3% vs. control 68.6%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑭ LHQW 7.80% vs. control 21.6%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| 2 | Jinhua Qinggan Granules (JHQG) | ① Significantly reduce the clinical symptoms of fever, cough, fatigue, and expectoration. ② Relieve the anxiety of patients. | Randomized controlled trial; JHQG group: JHQG + conventional western therapy (n = 82) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 41) | Mild | 5 days | ① JHQG 80.3% vs. control 53.1%, p = 0.0050 | Duan et al. (2020) |
| ② JHQG 66.1% vs. control 42.9%, p = 0.038 | |||||||
| ③ JHQG 77.6% vs. control 53.8%, p = 0.028 | |||||||
| ④ JHQG 85.3% vs. control 46.2%, p = 0.017 | |||||||
| ⑪ Compared with the control group, JHQG group significantly decrease, p < 0.01 | |||||||
| 3 | Shufeng Jiedu Capsule (SFJD) | ① Significantly improve the clinical symptoms, such as cough, expectoration, fatigue, chest distress, and shortness of breath. ③ Promote the absorption of lung inflammation. ④ Significantly shorten the symptoms improvement time and negative conversion time of the clinical. | Retrospective study; SFJD group: SFJD + arbidol hydrochloride capsule (n = 40) vs. control group: arbidol hydrochloride capsule (n = 30) | Mild and ordinary | 10 days | ⑧ SFJD 11.9 ± 3.21 vs. control 9.32 ± 3.03, p < 0.05 | Qu et al. (2020) |
| ⑩ Compared with the control group, dry cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, pharyngeal pain, fatigue and diarrhea significantly improved (p < 0.05) in the SFJD group | |||||||
| Retrospective study; SFJD group: SFJD + conventional western therapy (n = 34) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 34) | Ordinary | 7 days | ② SFJD 91.3% vs. control 54.2%, p < 0.05 | Chen et al. (2020c) | |||
| ③ SFJD 100% vs. control 70.6%, p < 0.05> | |||||||
| ④ SFJD 100% vs. control 37.5%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑤ Chest distress: SFJD 100% vs. control 57.1%, p < 0.05; shortness of breath: SFJD 90.9% vs. control 45.5%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑥ SFJD 91.2% vs. control 70.6%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑦ The level of lymphocytes significantly increased (p < 0.05) and the level of C-reactive protein significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in both two groups; while procalcitonin and D-dimer significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in the SFJD group | |||||||
| 4 | Huoxiang Zhengqi Oral Capsule (HXZQ) | ① Significantly improve clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, fatigue, and white greasy coating. ② Lower the rate of moderate cases worsening. ③ Improve the clinical cure rate. | Case series; COVID-19 patients treated by HXZQ and conventional western therapy (n = 11) | Ordinary | 9–33 days | ① 100% | Yang et al. (2020a) |
| ② 60.0% | |||||||
| ③ 100% | |||||||
| ⑤ 64.0% | |||||||
| ⑫ 100% | |||||||
| ⑭ 9.09% | |||||||
| 5 | Qingfei Paidu decoction (QFPD) | ① Significantly improve clinical symptoms and TCM syndrome. ③ Improve the negative psychology and decrease risks of complications. | Randomized controlled trial QFPD group: QFPD + conventional western therapy (n = 70) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 70) | Ordinary | 10 days | ⑦ QFPD 95.7% vs. control 85.7%, p < 0.05 | Wang et al. (2021) |
| ⑨ Compared with the control group, QFPD group significantly shorter, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑫ QFPD 98.6% vs. control 90.0%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑬QFPD 1.43% vs. Control 12.9%, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| Retrospective study; QFPD group: QFPD + conventional western therapy (n = 104) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 125) | Ordinary | 30 days | ⑥ QFPD 89.4% vs. control 71.2%, p < 0.001 | Zeng et al. (2020) | |||
| ⑧ QFPD 5.36 ± 1.25 vs. control 10.6 ± 2.62, p < 0.001 | |||||||
| ⑨ QFPD 24.6 ± 2.31 vs. control 29.4 ± 2.47, p < 0.001 | |||||||
| ⑪ Compared with the control group, QFPD group significantly decrease, p < 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑮ QFPD 51.0% vs. Control 70.4%, p = 0.0040 | |||||||
| 6 | Xuebijing Injection (XBJ) | ① Promote the absorption of pulmonary infection. | Retrospective study; XBJ group: XBJ + conventional western therapy (n = 22) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 22) | Ordinary | 7 days | ⑥ XBJ 95.5% vs. control 68.2%, p = 0.017 | Zhang et al. (2020a) |
| ⑫ XBJ 68.2% vs. control 50.0%, p = 0.0010 | |||||||
| Randomized controlled trial; XBJ group: XBJ + conventional western therapy (n = 10) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 10) | Mild | 3 days | ⑦ The level of lymphocyte count, CRP, and ESR in XBJ group were better than those of the control group, p > 0.05 | Liu et al. (2020a) | |||
| 7 | Reyanning Mixture (RYN) | ① Improve the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients, such as sore throat, cough, fatigue, headache, and chest tightness. ② Promote the improvement of chest CT. ③ Shorten the duration of fever and improve the novel coronavirus nucleic acid conversion rate. | Randomized controlled trial; RYN group: RYN + conventional western therapy (n = 26) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 23) | Ordinary | 7 days | ①-⑤ Except cough and fatigue, other symptoms disappeared in the RYN group, and the disappearance rate of symptoms such as dry throat, cough, fatigue, chest tightness, and headache was statistically significant compared with the control group (p < 0.05) | Yang et al. (2020c) |
| ⑥ RYN 88.5% vs. control 74.0%, p > 0.05 | |||||||
| ⑧ RYN 96.2% vs. control 60.9%, p < 0.01 | |||||||
| ⑩ Fever: RYN 5 days vs. control 3 days, p > 0.05 | |||||||
| 8 | Jinye Baidu Granules (JYBD) | Lower the rate of moderate and mild cases worsening | Retrospective study; JYBD group: JYBD + conventional western therapy (n = 27) vs. Control group: methylprednisolone + conventional western therapy (n = 38) | Mild and ordinary | 5–7 days | ⑭ JYBD 7.40% vs. control 42.1%, p < 0.05 | Yu et al. (2020a) |
| 9 | Reduning Injection (RDN) | ① Significantly reduce the levels of inflammatory factors | Retrospective study; RDN group: RDN + methylprednisolone (n = 21) vs. control group: methylprednisolone (n = 26) | Severe | 5–7 days | ⑦ Compared with control group after treatment, the levels of WBC, IL6, IL17, and CRP in RDN group were significantly lower (p < 0.05), and the level of IL4 in group A was significantly higher (p < 0.05) | Qin et al. (2020) |
| ② Reduce the length of hospital stay and ICU stay | ⑨ The length of hospitalization in RDN group was significantly shorter (p < 0.05) | ||||||
| 10 | Tanreqing Injection (TRQ) | Improve symptoms, block deterioration and promote rehabilitation | Retrospective study; TRQ group: TRQ+α-interferon + conventional western therapy (n = 58) vs. control group: conventional western therapy (n = 60) | All confirmed stages | 7 days | ⑩ The symptom score in the TRQ group was significantly higher (p < 0.05) | Huang et al. (2020b) |
| ⑫ TRQ 93.1% vs. control 80.0%, p < 0.05 |
Note: Clinical data①–⑮: ① disappearance rate of fever; ② disappearance rate of cough; ③ disappearance rate of fatigue; ④ disappearance rate of expectoration; ⑤ disappearance rate of other signs and symptoms; ⑥ the improvement rate of pulmonary CT; ⑦ the recovery level of inflammatory indexes; ⑧ the negative conversion rate (time) of nucleic acid; ⑨ the length of hospitalization; ⑩ the duration of main symptoms; ⑪ the anxiety level; ⑫ total effective rate; ⑬ the adverse reaction rate; ⑭ aggravation rate; ⑮ complication rate.