Coronavirus: are cocktail therapies for flu and HIV the magic cure? Bangkok and Hangzhou hospitals put combination remedies to the test

Signs are emerging that a combination therapy involving cocktails of drugs meant for different ailments may be effective in combating the coronavirus outbreak around the world, with different hospitals from Bangkok to Zhejiang reporting cases of patients recovering from the disease.

Some Chinese companies are pulling out all the stops to research and produce antiviral drugs and other pharmaceuticals believed to be effective against the new coronavirus, even as clinical trials are still needed before efficacy can be scientifically proven.

Arbidol, an antiviral drug used for treating influenza in Russia and China, could be combined with the anti-HIV drug Darunavir for treating patients afflicted with the novel coronavirus, according to China Business News, citing a proposal on Tuesday by China’s National Health Commission expert Li Lanjuan.

In Thailand, a combination of anti-influenza medication Oseltamivir and HIV drugs Lopinavir and Ritonavir have been used on three patients with severe symptoms, according to Thai media reports, citing the Rajavithi Hospital’s director Somkiat Lalitwongsa in Bangkok. One of the patients, a 71-year-old woman, showed signs of improvement 48 hours after being administered the cocktail of drugs, the reports said.

The new coronavirus, the second viral pandemic to emerge from China since the 2003 Sars outbreak, has infected more than 20,000 people, 99 per cent of which are found across all provinces in mainland China. The death toll stands at 427 cases, or just a little over 2 per cent of those infected, with two deaths outside the mainland while the remainder of the fatalities had been in China.