ONE YEAR OF COVID-19 | Five treatments that fell short

Over the course of the last year since the first outbreak of the coronavirus, numerous drugs and treatments have been touted. While studies have proved some to be successful in helping to treat the virus, others have disappointed.

Here's a look at five Covid-19 treatments that didn't work out as hoped:

Remdesivir

First developed to combat Ebola, Remdesivir showed early promise for treating Covid-19 patients but subsequent full trials showed little or no effect in treating severe infections.

Hydroxychloroquine

The commonly available anti-malaria drug, which was touted by former US president Donald Trump as a miracle cure, was the subject of three large randomised controlled studies that could neither prove nor disprove if it was beneficial or harmful for Covid-19 patients.

Interferon beta 1A

There were hopes early in the pandemic that interferon, developed to treat multiple sclerosis, would be a viable treatment, especially after clinical trials in the UK showed an inhaled form of the drug could dramatically reduce the chances of severe disease.

However, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Solidarity study showed it had little effect among 2,050 people in a controlled study.

Monoclonal antibodies

Antibodies cloned from human white blood cells which mimic the effects of the immune system showed good results against the original variant of the coronavirus - leading contender Regeneron was given to Trump when he fell ill - but have subsequently showed little effect against the new SA, Brazilian and Kent variants of the virus.

Lopinavir/ritonavir

Used in HIV treatment, Lopinavir has also been successfully used to treat SARS and MERS infections but had no impact on levels of Sars-CoV2.

Sources: World Health Organisation, New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard Health, Sciencemag.com.

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