Quest for drugs to fight Covid-19

Physicians across the globe are running trials on drug treatments repurposed from other diseases – from Ebola to malaria to arthritis – in a race to offer hope to Covid-19 patients


1. Antivirals: Stop virus from replicating in early stages 

Kaletra: HIV drug combination of lopinavir and ritonavir. U.S. biotech AbbVie has waived its patents 

Trials: More than 3,200 patients in international trials studying combinations

Remdesivir: Gilead Sciences’ antiviral, developed for Ebola 

600 patients in China and U.S.

Favipiravir: From Japan’s Fujifilm

Clinical studies of 340 people in China

Chloroquine: Anti-malarial drug

South Korea, China, U.S. and Norway


2. Anti- inflammatories: Treat immune system reactions

Actemra: Roche’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment blocks cytokine storm – massive overreaction of immune system – during pneumonia stage

Trials to start in U.S. and Italy

Kevzara: Rheumatoid arthritis drug from Sanofi and Regeneron treats excessive cytokine release during ventilation

400 patients in 16 U.S. states


3. Antibody-based treatments: Derived from blood plasma of recovered Covid-19 patients

Eli Lilly with Canadian start-up AbCellera and Japan’s Takeda are all developing drugs

300-plus patients in trials


4. Other treatments: 
BCG vaccine: Used to prevent tuberculosis by stimulating white blood cells to target pathogens before antibody response kicks in

Trials of 4,000 medical workers in Australia, 1,000 medics in Netherlands


Sources: Bloomberg, EU Clinical Trials Register, Live Science, MIT
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