Table 1 Literature review of COVID-19 clinical trials with antiviral drugs

Hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin

Cavalcanti et al. [8]

Did not improve clinical status at 15 days for mild-to-moderate COVID-19

Open-label RCT

Remdesivir

Beigel et al. [11]

Shorten the time to recovery for hospitalized patients

Double-blind RCT

Wang et al. [14]

Was not associated with time to clinical improvement

Double-blind RCT

Ribavirin

Tong et al. [15]

Was not associated with improved negative conversion time/improved mortality rate for severe patients

Retrospective study

Lopinavir–ritonavir (LPV/r)

Cao et al. [16]

Did not significantly accelerate clinical improvement for severe patients

Open-label RCT

Interferon beta-1b + lopinavir–ritonavir + ribavirin

Hung et al. [17]

Alleviating symptoms and shortening the duration of viral shedding and hospital stay in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19

Open-label RCT

Arbidol vs. lopinavir–ritonavir

Zhu et al. [18]

Arbidol monotherapy may be superior to lopinavir/ritonavir for viral clearance

Retrospective study

Arbidol + lopinavir–ritonavir vs. lopinavir–ritonavir

Deng et al. [19]

Arbidol and LPV/r combination may be superior to LPV/r alone in elevating negative conversion rate

Retrospective study

Arbidol and moxifloxacin

Yu et al. [20]

Reducing viral load and inflammation

Retrospective study

Empirical antiviral regimens with or without arbidol

Xu et al. [21]

Arbidol could accelerate and enhance the process of viral clearance

Retrospective study

Tocilizumab

Eimer et al. [24]

Did not reduce all-cause mortality but was associated with a shorter time on mechanical ventilation

Retrospective study

Dexamethasone

RECOVERY Collaborative group [25]

Lower 28-day mortality among those who were receiving either invasive mechanical ventilation or oxygen alone but not among those receiving no respiratory support

Open-label RCT