HIV Drug Being Studied in Clinical Trials for Treatment of COVID-19

23 Health Canada-approved virus therapy trials currently underway

A medical staffer shows tablets containing chloroquine, one of the drugs being tested in Canada and other countries to treat COVID-19, in Marseille, France, on Feb. 26, 2020. A clinician-scientist in Toronto is leading a study on a drug used to treat HIV infection as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images

An infectious diseases doctor in Toronto is heading up clinical trials of an antiretroviral drug used in the treatment of HIV infection to determine if the same therapy can be used to treat COVID-19.

A combination medication called lopinavir/ritonavir, the drug is used to prevent HIV from developing into the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Dr. Darrell Tan, a clinician at St. Michael’s Hospital who treats his HIV patients with the drug, is the principal investigator in the trials.