RE: Interferon in Canada13 May 2020 10:45
This article is related.
Enzyme makes men more vulnerable to coronavirus; adding interferon may improve treatment. Extract from report on 11th May.
Adding interferon-beta to a ****tail of the antiviral drugs lopinavir, ritonavir and ribavirin helped alleviate symptoms and shorten the duration of viral shedding (contagion) and hospital stays of mildly or moderately ill COVID-19 patients, according to results of a small randomized trial conducted at six hospitals in Hong Kong. The time it took for at least half the patients to have negative coronavirus tests was seven days with add-on interferon, compared to 12 days without it, researchers reported on Sunday in The Lancet. Overall, 86 patients received the interferon-containing combination and 41 got the antivirals without interferon. When the study started, half the patients had already been symptomatic for more than five days. The combination that included interferon "also alleviated symptoms completely within four days - a significantly shorter time than the control.