Chinese scientists reveal hepatitis drug that is proving helpful in curing coronavirus

A drug used to treat hepatitis C is safe to use in coronavirus patients and could help them to recover, according to recently conducted study.

Researchers from a Chinese biotechnology company and a hospital in Jiangxi, China, published the results of their trial without them being reviewed by other scientists.

They had given 11 patients a combination of danoprevir and ritonavir for between four and 12 days.

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All of them recovered and took around two days to produce a negative test result – the fastest negative test came just one day after treatment started and the last one eight days after.

They were discharged from hospital after their body temperatures returned to normal, their breathing improved, their lungs looked healthier in scans and they tested negative twice.

The medication danoprevir, sold as Ganovo, was given to 11 people with ‘moderate’ COVID-19 infections, in combination with the HIV drug ritonavir.

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Scientists found it was safe and did not cause severe side effects, raising its prospects as a ‘promising therapeutic option’, they said.

If doctors decide to trial the medication it could become one of a variety of existing drugs which are being touted as possible therapies for people with coronavirus.

Experts have cautioned against reading too much into small trials at a time when researchers are desperate to make a breakthrough – one called this study ‘unreliable’.