Repurposing antivirals indicated for HIV/AIDS to treat COVID-19
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Reviewed by Dat Tien Nguyen, B.A, ScM.
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Posted on December 21st, 2022
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Since the start of the pandemic, there has been huge efforts in developing antivirals for SARS-CoV-2. Remdesivir, initially a treatment for Ebola, and molnupiravir, originally used for Influenza, were repurposed for COVID-19. Thus, a recent study was conducted to investigate the possibility of using antivirals indicated for HIV to treat the COVID-19.
The study was conducted across 69 participating clinics in Spain, and it included 51,558 HIV-positive patients. Approximately 40% of them were using a combination of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and emtricitabine (FTC) to manage their infection. Around 27% used the tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) & emtricitabine (FTC) combo. And nearly 12% of them were under abacavir (ABC)/lamivudine (3TC) therapy. The participants were followed for 48 weeks, and the study found that the TDF/FTC combo significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and ICU admission when compared to the pairing that has TAF instead. Between the three therapies, ABC/3TC seemed to be the least effective as their users had a higher risk of hospitalization. None of the antiviral combinations significantly reduce mortality when compared to the other. Thus, a future study should be conducted to compare the effective of preventing COVID-19 between their antivirals and other standard of care such as remdesivir, molnupavir, and the nirmatrelvir and ritonavir combination - also known as Paxlovid.
The study was conducted across 69 participating clinics in Spain, and it included 51,558 HIV-positive patients. Approximately 40% of them were using a combination of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and emtricitabine (FTC) to manage their infection. Around 27% used the tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) & emtricitabine (FTC) combo. And nearly 12% of them were under abacavir (ABC)/lamivudine (3TC) therapy. The participants were followed for 48 weeks, and the study found that the TDF/FTC combo significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and ICU admission when compared to the pairing that has TAF instead. Between the three therapies, ABC/3TC seemed to be the least effective as their users had a higher risk of hospitalization. None of the antiviral combinations significantly reduce mortality when compared to the other. Thus, a future study should be conducted to compare the effective of preventing COVID-19 between their antivirals and other standard of care such as remdesivir, molnupavir, and the nirmatrelvir and ritonavir combination - also known as Paxlovid.