Favipiravir versus standard of care in patients with severe COVID-19 infections: A retrospective comparative study

Objective: To assess the efficacy of Favipiravir compared to the standard therapy in treating patients with severe COVID-19 infection. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were treated with favipiravir, versus comparison group that received the standard of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zainab Almoosa, Mustafa Saad, Samer Qara, Mahmoud Mustafa, Ali Mansour, Duaa Alshab, Jehad Alhashem, Sajida ALKhawajah, Saleh Alkhalifah, Mokhtar ALmarzooq, Mohammed ALzain, Neda’a Anshasi, Gasmelseed Ahmed, Abbas Al Mutair
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-09-01
Series:Journal of Infection and Public Health
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876034121002410
Description
Summary:Objective: To assess the efficacy of Favipiravir compared to the standard therapy in treating patients with severe COVID-19 infection. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were treated with favipiravir, versus comparison group that received the standard of care. Results: A total of 226 patients were included; 110 patients received favipiravir and 116 patients received standard of care. Patients who received favipiravir had longer time to recovery (14.2 ± 8.8 versus 12.8 ± 5.2, p = 0.17). Favipiravir was associated with an improved early day 14 mortality (4 [3.6%] versus 11 [9.5%]), p = 0.008), but was associated with a higher day 28 mortality (26 [23.6%] versus 11 [9.5%], p = 0.02). The overall mortality was higher in the favipiravir versus the standard of care group but difference was not statistically significant (33 [30.0%] versus 24 [20.7%], p = 0.10). Conclusion: The addition of favipiravir to standard of care was not associated with any improvement in clinical outcomes or mortality. Larger randomized controlled clinical trials are needed to further assess the efficacy of favipiravir.
ISSN:1876-0341