Expert: New antiviral drugs show promise against COVID-19

A leading Chinese respiratory expert said on Wednesday that combining antiviral drugs with host-target therapies, that is, immunosuppressive drugs, is a promising approach for treating viral pneumonia diseases, including COVID-19. 

Cao Bin, vice-president of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, said it is encouraging to see that global scientists have intensified their research into antiviral drugs for viral pneumonia, ranging from influenza viruses to coronaviruses, in the past decade.

Cao, who is also the deputy director of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine, spoke at a conference co-hosted by The Lancet and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences that ran from Wednesday to Thursday. 

Two pharmaceutical giants, Pfizer and Merck, have recently announced significant progress in developing antiviral COVID-19 drugs. 

Cao said that based on available information released by Pfizer, who said its COVID-19 pills can cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90 percent in high-risk adults, it appears that the sooner that a patient receives antiviral treatment, the better. 

"But we have to keep in mind that such benefits are among the high-risk population," he said. "Should everyone with COVID-19 infection receive antiviral (drugs)? The answer is no."

He added that the working mechanism of the newly developed drug suggests that it should be effective against virus mutations. 

More clinical trials are needed to investigate whether such antiviral therapies could play a role in reducing virus transmission among hospitalized patients, Cao added.