Efficacy of Different Types of Therapy for COVID-19: A Comprehensive Review

Life (Basel). 2021 Jul 27;11(8):753. doi: 10.3390/life11080753.

Abstract

A new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has already affected millions of people in 213 countries. The possibilities of treatment have been reviewed in recent publications but there are many controversial results and conclusions. An analysis of the studies did not reveal a difference in mortality level between people treated with standard therapy, such as antiviral drugs and dexamethasone, and new antiviral drugs/additional immune therapy. However, most studies describe clinical improvement and a decrease in mortality among patients with severe and critical conditions, with the early initiation of additional immune therapy. Possible new targets based on viral life cycles were considered. Unfortunately, the data analysis on the efficacy of different medicine and therapy regimens among patients with COVID-19, showed little success in decreasing the mortality rate in all treatment methods. Some efficacy has been shown with an immunosuppressive therapy in small patient samples, but when a larger number of patients were analyzed the data did not differ significantly from the control groups.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antiviral therapy; coronavirus infection; cytokines; immune therapy; intravenous immunoglobulin IgG; plasma.

Publication types

  • Review