Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 17 December 2020

What is this living guideline?

Clinical question: What is the role of drugs in the treatment of patients with COVID-19?

Target audience: The target audience is clinicians and health care decision-makers.

How this guideline was created: This living guideline is an innovation from the World Health Organization (WHO), driven by the urgent need for global collaboration to provide trustworthy and evolving COVID-19 guidance informing policy and practice worldwide.

Understanding the recommendations: When moving from the evidence to the strong recommendation against the use of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir in patients with COVID-19, the panel emphasized the evidence suggesting no reduction in mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, and other patient-important outcomes.