But Twitter forced her to remove her tweet that said that.

Another drug used in Japan to treat influenza seems to be effective at treating the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to news reports.

The antiviral drug, called Favipiravir or Avigan, showed positive outcomes in clinical trials involving 340 individuals in Wuhan and Shenzhen, said Zhang Xinmin, of China’s science and technology ministry, The Guardian reported.

Doctors from Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok said a new approach in coronavirus treatment had improved the condition of several patients under their care, including one 70-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan who tested positive for the coronavirus for 10 days.

The drug treatment includes a mixture of anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, in combination with flu drug oseltamivir in large doses. So is another anti-malarial drug: Atovaquone/Proguanil (Malarone).

TABLE 1 | SELECTED REPURPOSED DRUGS IN CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT TO TREAT COVID-19

Drug or cocktail Originator company Status and mechanisms Clinical trials (trial posting date)
ASC09/ritonavir, lopinavir/ritonavir, with or without umifenovir Ascletis, AbbVie, Pharmstandard ASC09 is an experimental HIV-1 protease inhibitor; ritonavir and lopinavir/ritonavir are approved protease inhibitors for HIV/AIDS; umifenovir is an approved entry inhibitor against influenza At least three trials (e.g., ChiCTR2000029603, 2/6/20)
ASC09/oseltamivir, ritonavir/oseltamivir, oseltamivir Ascletis, Gilead, AbbVie See above; oseltamivir is a sialidase inhibitor approved for influenza One trial (NCT04261270, 2/7/20)
Azvudine Zhengzhou Granlen PharmaTech Experimental reverse transcriptase inhibitor drug against HIV-1/AIDS One trial (ChiCTR2000029853, 2/15/20)
Various combinations of baloxavir marboxil/favipiravir and lopinavir/ritonavir Shionogi, Toyama Chemical Baloxavir marboxil is a Cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor and favipiravir is a guanine analog RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor approved for influenza A and B; see above Two trials (ChiCTR2000029544, 2/3/20; ChiCTR2000029548, 2/4/20)
Various combinations of darunavir/cobicistat alone or with lopinavir/ritonavir and thymosin α1 Janssen, Gilead Darunavir and cobicistat are, respectively, an HIV-1 protease inhibitor and inhibitor of cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A enzyme, approved as a combination against HIV-1/AIDS. Thymosin α1 is an immune response boosting agent Two trials (NCT04252274, 2/5/20; ChiCTR2000029541, 2/3/20)
Remdesivir Gilead Phosphoramidate prodrug of an adenine analog used for Ebola and Marburg virus outbreaks (similar structure to approved HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors) Two trials (NCT04252664, 2/5/20; NCT04257656, 2/6/20)
Chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine Shanghai Zhongxi Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Ziyuan Pharmaceutical, Wuhan Wuyao Pharmaceutical Endosomal acidification fusion inhibitor At least ten trials (e.g., ChiCTR2000029826, 2/2/20; NCT04261517, 2/14/20)
Methylprednisolone Generic Synthetic corticosteroid that binds to nuclear receptors to dampen proinflammatory cytokines One trial (NCT04263402, 2/10/20)
Interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with lopinavir/ritonavir and ribavirin Biogen, Merck Interferon alfa-2b is a recombinant cytokine with antiviral properties; ribavirin is a guanine derivative; as above Two trials (NCT04254874, 2/5/20; ChiCTR2000029308, 1/23/20)
Camrelizumab and thymosin Incyte, Shanghai Hengrui Pharmaceutical Camrelizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting PD-1 Two trials (ChiCTR2000029806, 2/14/20; NCT04268537, 2/14/20)
Tocilizumab Chugai Pharmaceutical, Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical, Jiangsu Qyun Bio-Pharmaceutical Humanized mAb targeting interleukin-6 One trial (ChiCTR2000029765, 2/13/20)

Visits: 12