Efficacy and safety of arbidol (umifenovir) in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Immun Inflamm Dis. 2021 Dec;9(4):1197-1208. doi: 10.1002/iid3.502. Epub 2021 Aug 4.

Abstract

Objective: To provide the latest evidence for the efficacy and safety of arbidol (umifenovir) in COVID-19 treatment.

Methods: A literature systematic search was carried out in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and medRxiv up to May 2021. The Cochrane risk of bias tool and Newcastle-Ottawa scale were used to assess the quality of included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3.

Results: Sixteen studies were met the inclusion criteria. No significant difference was observed between arbidol and non-antiviral treatment groups neither for primary outcomes, including the negative rate of PCR (NR-PCR) on Day 7 (risk ratio [RR]: 0.94; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78-1.14) and Day 14 (RR: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.96-1.25), and PCR negative conversion time (PCR-NCT; mean difference [MD]: 0.74; 95% CI: -0.87 to 2.34), nor secondary outcomes (p > .05). However, arbidol was associated with higher adverse events (RR: 2.24; 95% CI: 1.06-4.73). Compared with lopinavir/ritonavir, arbidol showed better efficacy for primary outcomes (p < .05). Adding arbidol to lopinavir/ritonavir also led to better efficacy in terms of NR-PCR on Day 7 and PCR-NCT (p < .05). There was no significant difference between arbidol and chloroquine in primary outcomes (p > .05). No remarkable therapeutic effect was observed between arbidol and other agents (p > .05).

Conclusion: The present meta-analysis showed no significant benefit of using arbidol compared with non-antiviral treatment or other therapeutic agents against COVID-19 disease. High-quality studies are needed to establish the efficacy and safety of arbidol for COVID-19.

Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus infection; 2019-nCoV infection; arbidol; coronavirus; novel coronavirus; umifenovir.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use
  • COVID-19 Drug Treatment*
  • Humans
  • Indoles
  • SARS-CoV-2

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Indoles
  • umifenovir