Lopinavir/Ritonavir in the Treatment of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) in the treatment of COVID-19. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Ovid, CNKI, CBM, Wanfang, and VIP databases were searched to obtain the clinical studies of LPV/r in the treatment of COVID-19 from December 2019 to July 2020. The literatures were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Their qualities were evaluated according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. Results: A total of 688 patients were included in five studies, involving China and France. Compared with patients in the control group, who was only treated with routine treatment, there were no significant differences of the 7-day nucleic acid negative conversion rate and 14-day nucleic acid negative conversion rate in the treatment group. However, the use of LPV/r increased the incidence of adverse reactions in the treatment group compared to the control group. Conclusion: There is no available evidence to support the use of Lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of COVID-19.