Title:Comparison the Effect of Arbidol Plus Hydroxychloroquine vs Hydroxychloroquine Alone in Treatment of COVID-19 Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Volume: 16
Issue: 4
Author(s): Rozita Khodashahi, Hamidreza Naderi, Amin Bojdy, Ali Akbar Heydari, Ashraf Tavanaee Sani, Mohammad Javad Ghabouli, Mohammad Reza Sarvghad, Mahboubeh Haddad, Mahnaz Arian, Shahrzad Jahanian, Saeedeh Mazidi, Maziar Mortazavi Pasand, Binyamin Hoseini, Maliheh Dadgarmoghaddam, Ali Khorsand and Mandana Khodashahi*
Affiliation:
- Rheumatic Diseases Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad,Iran
Keywords:
COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, arbidol, umifenovir, viral diseases, emergency situation.
Abstract:
Background and Aim: The main challenging issue about coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) is the production of safe and stable vaccines, which is a very long process. Due to the
emergency situation, regular and extensive screening of available and traditional drugs, which are
commonly used for the treatment of similar viral diseases, can be a reasonable option. The present
study aimed to compare the administration of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) plus arbidol to the use of
HCQ alone in the treatment of COVID-19 infection.
Methods and Materials: This single-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out on a total of
100 patients with COVID-19 referring to the infection ward of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad,
Iran, in 2020. The patients were randomly assigned to two HCQ alone and HCQ plus arbidol
groups.
Results: According to the obtained results, hematological parameters, including white blood cell
count, hemoglobin level, lymphocyte count, and platelet count, improved in patients with
COVID-19 after the treatment with both HCQ plus arbidol and HCQ alone (P<0.005). The mean
values of the reduction time of C-reactive protein (CRP) were 4.48±1.24 and 8.22±2.08 days in the
arbidol and HCQ alone groups, respectively, indicating that CRP decreased faster in the arbidol
group than that reported for the HCQ alone group (Z=0.-7.85; P<0.000). The mean scores of hospital
stay were reported as 5.89±2.04 and 9.35±3.72 days in the arbidol and HCQ alone groups, respectively
(Z=-4.31; P<0.005). All the patients in the arbidol group survived, while 6% of the subjects
in the HCQ alone group died. In addition, the drug regimen was not changed for any patient,
and no subject was transferred to the intensive care unit in the arbidol group.
Conclusion: In summary, the administration of both arbidol and HCQ leads to the improvement of
the hematological parameters. The present study introduced arbidol as an effective treatment for
moderate to severe patients with COVID-19, which not only reduced the time of CRP normalization
level but also decreased the hospitalization duration and mortality compared to those reported
for HCQ.
