Tratamiento farmacológico para COVID-19 en protocolos latinoamericanos: Una revisión narrativa de la eficacia y seguridad

The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has put the global scientific community in an accelerated pace of research for an effective treatment for COVID-19. Objective: To identify and evaluate drugs in Latin American protocols of pharmacological treatment for COVID-19. Method: The evidence and mega trial results available to date on the most frequent medications are analyzed. Results: The most common drugs in national protocols are hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, and remdesivir. None of the drugs that collect the most data from clinical studies, with the except for dexamethasone in a small subgroup of patients, so far showed significant differences in mortality. Conclusions: The emerging situation of COVID-19 has determined hasty and controversial decision-making based on questionable and/or low-quality studies. This highlights the provisional nature of the information and the possibility of generating changes as more results become available. Advance medication authorization exposes a known problem. Although regulatory agility is required at this time, speed should not overlap with basic ethical standards and trust in evidence.