Summary of the effects of all available interventions compared to standard care

The information presented in the figure below comes from a living network meta-analysis that combines all the available evidence on drug therapies for COVID-19. This statistical approach allows us to obtain estimates of effect for all potential comparisons, even those that have not been compared head-to-head in trials. We present the most trustworthy estimates of absolute effect for all available drug therapies for COVID-19 versus standard care. The colours distinguish between the most beneficial and harmful interventions compared to standard care, while the shading of cells indicates the certainty of the evidence of a particular drug based on the GRADE approach.

High/ moderate certainty

Low certainty

Very low certainty

No Evidence

Among the most
beneficial

Intermediate
benefit

Not convincingly
different
than standard care

Intermediate
harm

Among the most
harmful

Baseline risk tooltip
Minimal important difference tooltip
Mortality (closest to 90 days)
Mechanical Ventilation (closest to 90 days)
Adverse effects leading to discontinuation (within 28 days) tooltip
Admission to hospital (within 28 days)
Venous thromboembolism
Clinically important bleeding
Length of hospital stay (in days)
Time to symptom resolution (in days)
Duration of mechanical ventilation (in days)
Baseline risk
130 per 1,000
116 per 1,000
0 per 1,000
43 per 1,000
32 per 1,000
17 per 1,000
12.8 days
9.9 days
14.7 days
Minimal important difference
10 per 1,000
15 per 1,000
20 per 1,000
10 per 1,000
20 per 1,000
20 per 1,000
1 day
1 day
1 day
(acetyl)cysteine
(hydroxy)chloroquine
ACEi/ARB
antihepaciviral
aspirin
aspirin, statins
azithromycin
azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine
azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, oseltamivir
azithromycin, lopinavir-ritonavir
azithromycin, NSAID
azithromycin, NSAID, corticosteroid
cefepime
ceftazidime
clarithromycin
colchicine
colchicine, emtricitabine, tenofovir, statins
colchicine, statins
corticosteroids (systemic)
doxycycline
doxycycline, ivermectin
doxycycline, lopinavir-ritonavir
electrolyzed saline
emtricitabine, tenofovir
favipiravir
favipiravir, hydrochloroquine
fluvoxamine
full-dose anticoagulant
GM-CSF inhibitor
IL1 inhibitors
IL6 receptor antagonists with corticosteroids (systemic)
IL6 receptor antagonists without corticosteroids (systemic)
inhaled corticosteroids
interferon alfa (subcutaneous)
interferon beta (subcutaneous)
interferon beta (subcutaneous), lopinavir-ritonavir
intermediate-dose anticoagulant
intranasal corticosteroids
intranasal hypertonic polymer spray
ivermectin
JAK inhibitors
lopinavir-ritonavir
melatonin
methylene blue
molnupiravir
nitazoxanide
omega 3
probiotics
proxalutamide
recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor
remdesivir
serine protease inhibitors
SGLT2 inhibitors
statins
sulodexide
synthetic VIP
tyrosine kinase inhibitors
umifenovir
vitamin C
vitamin D
Mortality (closest to 90 days) Mechanical Ventilation (closest to 90 days) Adverse effects leading to discontinuation (within 28 days)**** Admission to hospital (within 28 days) Venous thromboembolism Clinically important bleeding Length of hospital stay (in days) Time to symptom resolution (in days) Duration of mechanical ventilation (in days)
-17 (-74 to 66)
-16 (-64 to 53)
0 (-24 to 23)
0.1 (-2.7 to 3.0) tooltip
10 (-9 to 30)
28 (3 to 58)
13 (2 to 24)
0 (-21 to 33)
2.0 (0.0 to 3.9)
-1.2 (-2.3 to 0.1)
-15 (-53 to 35)
1 (-36 to 48)
4 (-19 to 27)
-0.5 (-3.6 to 2.6)
-23 (-52 to 10)
-27 (-64 to 22)
0 (-9 to 8)
-1.2 (-4.4 to 2.0)
-2.7 (-4.2 to -0.9)
-7 (-35 to 21)
-8 (-43 to 32)
9 (-6 to 24)
-42 (-43 to -41)
838 (12 to 968)
21 (-14 to 121)
-0.7 (-5.6 to 4.2)
68 (-52 to 255)
69 (-49 to 251)
0 (-9 to 9)
0.3 (-1.0 to 1.7) tooltip
-2 (-25 to 25)
-6 (-35 to 26)
-2 (-24 to 20)
6 (-18 to 48)
0.2 (-3.5 to 3.9)
-4.2 (-5.5 to -2.6)
-28 (-88 to 61)
76 (-10 to 191)
5 (-13 to 23)
14 (-25 to 89)
0.4 (-0.8 to 1.5) tooltip
164 (-54 to 517)
55 (12 to 99)
6.8 (-1.1 to 14.8)
2.7 (-2.0 to 9.2)
-1 (-24 to 23)
24 (-85 to 225)
-56 (-115 to 156)
-27 (-107 to 147)
-8 (-107 to 269)
373 (-130 to 870)
-3.2 (-5.4 to -0.3)
372 (-130 to 870)
-2.7 (-5.1 to 0.4)
-5.4 (-6.7 to -3.5)
-8 (-39 to 18)
-21 (-51 to 11)
25 (-10 to 59)
-6 (-27 to 30)
-0.5 (-3.8 to 2.8)
-49 (-90 to 15)
-29 (-75 to 45)
32 (3 to 61)
0.1 (-7.1 to 7.3)
-20 (-72 to 56)
10 (-54 to 104)
14 (-8 to 35)
-0.0 (-7.2 to 7.2)
-23 (-40 to -7)
-22 (-45 to 4)
1.0 (-2.1 to 4.2)
-1.4 (-3.4 to 0.6)
243 (-33 to 669)
-44 (-105 to 102)
-1.3 (-2.6 to -0.0) tooltip
0.2 (-3.1 to 4.4)
-125 (-130 to -83)
10 (-7 to 27)
-1.8 (-4.5 to 1.9)
-5 (-27 to 17)
-99 (-127 to -30)
27 (-8 to 62)
-26 (-38 to -1)
-4.2 (-6.2 to -1.4)
-25 (-77 to 53)
-18 (-69 to 61)
22 (-2 to 46)
1.0 (-6.3 to 8.2)
34 (-41 to 141)
47 (-23 to 142)
5 (-9 to 20)
-1.2 (-2.4 to -0.1) tooltip
-3.0 (-4.2 to -1.6)
2 (-72 to 117)
16 (-54 to 124)
1.0 (-1.8 to 3.8) tooltip
3.3 (-2.3 to 11.5)
-34 (-81 to 35)
-25 (-68 to 39)
-12 (-27 to 9)
-5 (-26 to 18)
-34 (-75 to 24)
-3 (-29 to 22)
-11 (-35 to 46)
-16 (-22 to -7)
20 (6 to 40)
0.3 (-1.4 to 1.9) tooltip
-0.3 (-1.5 to 0.9)
-26 (-54 to 6)
-3 (-62 to 89)
0.0 (-1.1 to 1.1) tooltip
-0.9 (-2.7 to 1.3)
-29 (-64 to 18)
-18 (-61 to 42)
2 (-8 to 12)
-1.0 (-2.2 to 0.2) tooltip
-1.6 (-4.0 to 1.4)
-23 (-36 to -7)
-22 (-39 to -2)
-4 (-13 to 4)
-4.9 (-7.8 to -1.9)
-1.5 (-3.7 to 1.7) tooltip
-1.0 (-2.2 to 0.2)
11 (-11 to 34)
-44 (-72 to -5)
-2 (-13 to 9)
0.1 (-3.7 to 3.9)
1.0 (-2.0 to 4.8)
-1.6 (-3.3 to 0.1)
11 (-67 to 140)
-0.1 (-3.0 to 3.7)
816 (221 to 870)
195 (-94 to 820)
0.1 (-1.0 to 1.2) tooltip
-1.2 (-4.2 to 2.9)
2 (-28 to 33)
3 (-28 to 41)
0 (-30 to 31)
-0.1 (-3.4 to 3.1)
-1.3 (-3.0 to 0.6)
1.2 (-0.3 to 2.7)
110 (20 to 223)
57 (-8 to 139)
291 (216 to 366)
5.0 (3.3 to 6.7) tooltip
-0.1 (-2.6 to 3.1)
19 (-31 to 83)
19 (-61 to 144)
19 (-10 to 67)
-3 (-14 to 24)
-116 (-130 to -35)
-8 (-25 to 9)
0 (-29 to 56)
0.3 (-3.6 to 5.6)
43 (-24 to 203)
-41 (-77 to 7)
2 (-50 to 75)
3 (-4 to 9)
-18 (-32 to 7)
-0.2 (-3.8 to 3.4)
-1.8 (-3.5 to 0.3)
-44 (-64 to -20)
-23 (-47 to 4)
5 (-6 to 16)
-1.1 (-1.9 to -0.4) tooltip
-0.7 (-2.5 to 1.5)
-3.2 (-5.9 to -0.5)
7 (-13 to 29)
12 (-13 to 39)
49 (27 to 72)
-8 (-31 to 36)
0.4 (-2.2 to 3.0)
-0.8 (-2.5 to 1.3)
-119 (-130 to -87)
-57 (-93 to -5)
-4.4 (-9.68 to 0.89)
-116 (-130 to -76)
179 (-116 to 884)
0 (-2 to 2)
-19 (-29 to -5)
-3.3 (-4.8 to -1.6)
-40 (-112 to 110)
2 (-7 to 10)
-14 (-35 to 32)
0.9 (-2.6 to 5.7)
-108 (-128 to -55)
25 (-98 to 293)
0 (-13 to 13)
709 (-43 to 957)
-2.6 (-5.0 to 0.6)
-111 (-119 to -101)
-107 (-113 to -97)
-2 (-17 to 14)
-41 (-43 to -37)
-7.9 (-8.7 to -6.9)
-98 (-124 to -43)
-95 (-107 to -75)
-0.7 (-2.3 to 1.0) tooltip
-0.6 (-3.6 to 3.5)
-10 (-31 to 12)
-22 (-42 to 1)
6 (-6 to 17)
-29 (-40 to -6)
-0.5 (-3.6 to 2.5)
-1.2 (-2.9 to 0.6)
-1.2 (-3.9 to 1.4)
-31 (-95 to 85)
160 (-33 to 497)
-16 (-63 to 33)
-0.3 (-1.7 to 1.0) tooltip
-0.2 (-2.8 to 3.0)
-28 (-67 to 23)
-17 (-58 to 38)
-17 (-48 to 13)
44 (-67 to 219)
36 (-65 to 202)
4 (-8 to 17)
-0.5 (-2.0 to 0.6) tooltip
-65 (-119 to 48)
-44 (-105 to 93)
14 (-44 to 73)
-17 (-33 to 15)
25 (-29 to 227)
-14 (-17 to 3)
23 (-50 to 132)
-67 (-100 to -19)
-60 (-94 to -3)
62 (19 to 105)
0.7 (-1.0 to 2.3) tooltip
-30 (-83 to 53)
5 (-24 to 34)
-1.2 (-3.5 to 1.1) tooltip
-0.1 (-2.2 to 2.5)
-38 (-85 to 30)
22 (-42 to 112)
-0.1 (-4.8 to 4.6)
-0.7 (-3.0 to 2.2)
-42 (-88 to 27)
-1 (-26 to 24)
-1.4 (-2.8 to -0.2) tooltip