Efficacy and safety of Xiyanping injection in the treatment of COVID-19: A multicenter, prospective, open-label and randomized controlled trial.

Xiyanping (XYP) is a Chinese herbal medicine used in the clinic to treat respiratory infection and pneumonia. Recent evidence identified XYP as a potential inhibitor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, implying XYP as a possible treatment for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here, we conducted a prospective, multicenter, open-label and randomized controlled trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of XYP injection in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. We consecutively recruited 130 COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms from five study sites, and randomized them in 1:1 ratio to receive XYP injection in combination with standard therapy or receive standard supportive therapy alone. We found that XYP injection significantly reduced the time to cough relief, fever resolution and virus clearance. Less patients receiving XYP injection experienced disease progression to the severe stage during the treatment process. No severe adverse events were reported during the study. Taken together, XYP injection is safe and effective in improving the recovery of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. However, further studies are warranted to evaluate the efficacy of XYP in an expanded cohort comprising COVID-19 patients at different disease stages.

Glycyrrhetinic acid and its derivatives as potential alternative medicine to relieve symptoms in nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients.

SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious, and infection by this virus results in COVID-19, manifesting predominantly symptoms in the lower respiratory system. Detection of viral genomic materials by RT-PCR is the gold standard for diagnosis. Suspected COVID-19 patients who had a documented history of exposure and exhibited symptoms, but did not have positive PCR test results, were generally self-quarantined with prescriptions aiming to help attenuate their symptoms. These prescriptions are however neither specific nor highly effective for COVID-19 treatment. Given the rapidly growing pandemic and the overwhelmed medical system, the number of self-quarantined patients is increasing. There is an urgent need of alternative medicine to help patients relieve symptoms during self-quarantine, and to potentially help increase their chances of survival and recovery from the infection. We report here a case of severe COVID-19 that never had a positive PCR test result during disease progression but was confirmed with antibody test post recovery. This patient was self-quarantined and received diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG), a steroid-like molecule, in combination with vitamin C as alternative medicine. This patient went through severe COVID-19 but eventually recovered upon the implementation of this treatment regimen, suggesting potential therapeutic effects of DG as alternative medicine to help relieve COVID-19 symptoms.