Possibly encouraging news, one patient cured of COVID 19 with antiretroviral agent

[lambchopp59]

A drug commonly used to manage HIV was successfully used to treat a man with coronavirus.
The Spanish newspaper El País reports that Miguel Ángel Benítez, 62, was successfully treated for coronavirus at a hospital in Seville with lopinavir/ritonavir (marketed as Kaletra), a protease inhibitor.
“It’s an experimental usage of the drug that has given good results with other viruses,” said Albert Bosch, president of the Spanish Virology Society.
“One of the biggest advantages is that they are already approved for use, so there is little doubt about their safety.”
Protease inhibitors are antiviral drugs that bind to certain enzymes necessary to produce parts of the virus, inhibiting production of the virus in cells.
Kaletra was paired with interferon beta, a signaling protein that cells produce when they are infected and that increases resistance to viruses.
“The results we have so far for the use of these drugs to treat coronavirus give us hope,” said Santiago Moreno, head of infectious diseases at Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid.
Of course, success in one case does not mean that the medications will work for everyone, and further testing and research is needed.



https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/hiv-medication-just-used-cure-coronavirus/

[IcyPeas]

1. how do they know the patient didn't just recover on their own?

the majority of people seem to be recovering.

[lambchopp59]

3. I wondered the same. It's why it's only being treated as a "possible" treatment

Apparently there is some testing in China as well involving this same agent, but details are sketchy via Google search.
Now if only we can find a cure for Trumpism, we'll be well on the way to healing this nation.

[customerserviceguy]

2. Not being familiar with this class of drugs

are antiretroviral agents expensive? And are we willing to give an expensive drug to an infected younger person otherwise without medical problems, when it might be better to give it to an older person who might not have that many years left anyway?

Drugs may be a solution, but administering the solution can be complicated.

[Warpy]

4. Thailand reported in late January or early February

that large doses of Tamiflu in combination with a large dose of the current HIV "cocktail" cleared the virus within 48 hours.

I have heard absolutely nothing since then about anyone testing antiviral drugs. I also haven't heard any follow up of the Thai case, about whether the virus returned or the side effects of the drugs were too great.

Reporting on this thing has been piss poor.

[stuffmatters]

5. This.I wondered the same thing too after reading HIV/Sars "cocktail" was promising.

And that was a couple weeks ago at least. And, as you say, "crickets" in reporting since.