The use of unproven drugs for COVID-19 treatment in people living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe

Blazej Rozplochowski; Justyna D Kowalska; Arjan Harxhi; Lukas Fleischhans; Sergii Antoniak; Deniz Gokengin; Anna Vassilenko; Kerstin Aimla; Raimonda Matulionytė; Antonios Papadopoulos; Nino Rukhadze; Botond Lakatos; Dalibor Sedlacek; Gordana Dragovic; Marta Vasylyev; David Jilich; Anatonija Verhaz; Nina Yancheva; Josip Begovac; Agata Skrzat-Klapaczynska; Cristiana Oprea

doi:10.3390/germs16010006

Title	The use of unproven drugs for COVID-19 treatment in people living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors	Rozplochowski, Blazej ; Kowalska, Justyna D ; Harxhi, Arjan ; Fleischhans, Lukas ; Antoniak, Sergii ; Gokengin, Deniz ; Vassilenko, Anna ; Aimla, Kerstin ; Matulionytė, Raimonda ; Papadopoulos, Antonios ; Rukhadze, Nino ; Lakatos, Botond ; Sedlacek, Dalibor ; Dragovic, Gordana ; Vasylyev, Marta ; Jilich, David ; Verhaz, Anatonija ; Yancheva, Nina ; Begovac, Josip ; Skrzat-Klapaczynska, Agata ; Oprea, Cristiana
DOI	10.3390/germs16010006
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Is Part of	Germs.. Basel : MDPI AG. 2026, vol. 16, iss. 1, art. no. 6, p. [1-9].. eISSN 2248-2997
Keywords [eng]	HIV ; COVID-19 ; SARS-CoV-2 ; off-label ; repurposed ; repositioned
Abstract [eng]	Early in 2020, the WHO recommended that existing drugs be evaluated as a repurposed resource to fight the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Here, we investigate the trends of using repurposed and off-label drugs among people living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). From November 2020 to May 2021, data on the clinical outcomes of HIV-positive patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were collected on eCRFs (SurveyMonkey® platform, Inc. San Mateo, CA, USA). Factors associated with the off-label drugs available at this time (chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir, oseltamivir, and lopinavir/ritonavir) were identified using logistic regression models. Of the 557 HIV-positive patients assessed with COVID-19 disease, 67 (12.0%) received off-label drugs, as well as 11.6% (16/138) of hospitalized and 12.2% (51/419) of ambulatory patients (p = 0.8564). In the adjusted logistic regression model, higher odds of off-label drug use were found in patients who had their diagnoses confirmed by an RT PCR test (aOR 5.08 [95%CI 1.17–22.0], p = 0.0396), and who came from a non-EU region (aOR 6.79 [95%CI 3.51–13.1], p < 0.0001). The only factor decreasing the odds of off-label drug use was co-infection (aOR 0.31 [95%CI 0.10–0.94], p < 0.0395). In a cohort of HIV patients from the CEE, 12% were prescribed off-label drugs for COVID-19. Symptomatic patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection or who were from non-EU countries were more likely to receive a repurposed drug. Drug repurposing is an immediate solution to emerging pandemics. All data regarding the safety and effectiveness of such use should be monitored, reported, and publicly available. Access patterns within and outside the EU should be analyzed to prevent potential inequalities in access to care during epidemics in European settings.
Published	Basel : MDPI AG
Type	Journal article
Language	English
Publication date	2026
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„The use of unproven drugs for COVID-19 treatment in people living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe“