Yindan Jiedu Granules, a Traditional Chinese Medicinal Formulation, as a Potential Treatment for Coronavirus Disease 2019

Jingyuan Liu; Yuyong Jiang; Yao Liu; Lin Pu; Chunjing Du; Yuxin Li; Xiaojing Wang; Jie Ren; Wei Liu; Zhiyun Yang; Zhihai Chen; Rui Song; Wen Xie; Xianbo Wang

doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.634266

Yindan Jiedu Granules, a Traditional Chinese Medicinal Formulation, as a Potential Treatment for Coronavirus Disease 2019

Front Pharmacol. 2021 Feb 5:11:634266. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.634266. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jingyuan Liu¹, Yuyong Jiang², Yao Liu², Lin Pu¹, Chunjing Du¹, Yuxin Li², Xiaojing Wang², Jie Ren², Wei Liu³, Zhiyun Yang², Zhihai Chen⁴, Rui Song⁴, Wen Xie⁵, Xianbo Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Center of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Pharmacy, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Center of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁵ Liver Diseases Center, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: Yindan Jiedu Granules (YDJDG) have been newly prescribed as a Chinese herbal formula. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of YDJDG and lopinavir-ritonavir in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: Overall, 131 patients with COVID-19 were included in this study. In addition to standard care, 60 of these patients received YDJDG (YDJDG group) and 71 received lopinavir-ritonavir (lopinavir-ritonavir group). Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to match the characteristics of individuals in the two groups, while the Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare the proportion recovery observed. Results: Cox analysis revealed that YDJDG and CD4 ≥ 660 cells/µL were independent predictive factors of proportion recovery. At baseline, disease types differed between the YDJDG and lopinavir-ritonavir treatment groups. Furthermore, no significant adverse effects or toxicities relevant to YDJDG were observed. The median recovery time was 21 days in the YDJDG group and 27 days in the lopinavir-ritonavir group. After PSM (1:1), 50 patient pairs, YDJDG vs. lopinavir-ritonavir, were analyzed. In the YDJDG group, the proportion of recovered patients was remarkably higher than that observed in the lopinavir-ritonavir group (p = 0.0013), especially for those presenting mild/moderate disease type and CD4 < 660 cells/µL. In the YDJDG group, the mean duration of fever and pulmonary exudative lesions was significantly shorter than that observed in the lopinavir-ritonavir group (p = 0.0180 and p = 0.0028, respectively). Conclusion: YDJDG reveals the potential to hasten the recovery period in COVID-19 patients with mild/moderate disease type or CD4 < 660 cells/µL by shortening the mean duration of fever and pulmonary exudative lesions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Yindan Jiedu granules; fever; herbal medicine; pulmonary exudative lesions; recovery proportion.