Here are the most promising COVID-19 treatments being explored today

Companies from around the world are racing to find treatments for the deadly COVID-19 virus. According to a recent study by Chinese scientists, "Research thus far has revealed more than 30 agents including Western medicines, natural products, and traditional Chinese medicines that may have potential efficacy against COVID-19." Here are three treatments that medical professionals say may be effective.

1. Favipiravir

This Japanese influenza medication has been hailed by Chinese officials as being effective in treating coronavirus patients. According to Zhang Xinmin, an official at China's science and technology ministry, the medication showed positive outcomes after it was used in clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzhen, China.

"It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment," Zhang told reporters on Tuesday.

Patients treated with the drug showed negative results for COVID-19 after a median of four days after testing positive. That compares to a median of 11 days to test negative without the drug, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

91% of patients in the trial also showed improved lung conditions, compared to 62% of those not treated with favipiravir.

2. Hydroxychloroquine

Developed over 50 years ago to treat malaria, this drug is being used in clinical trials to treat COVID-19 patients. According to a recent Chinese study, "the drug has a good potential to combat the disease." Now a French team has published initial results of a clinical trial of the drug in France.

They show that 50% of patients treated with 600mg of the drug each day tested negative for the virus after three days. By day six, the percentage climbed to 70%. More promising were the results among a smaller set of six patients given a combination of hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin. Five of them tested negative at day three. All six tested negative at day six.

3. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Several studies have shown TCM being effective in treating patients with mild symptoms of COVID-19. One such study published in Pharmacological Research says, "In 102 cases of mild symptoms treated with TCM, the clinical symptom disappearance time was shortened by 2 days, the recovery time of body temperature was shortened by 1.7 days, the average length of stay in hospital was shortened by 2.2 days, the improvement rate of CT image was increased by 22%, the clinical cure rate was increased by 33%, 27.4% reduction in the rate of common to severe cases and 70% increase in lymphocyte. In addition, in the treatment of severe patients with TCM, the average length of stay in hospital and the time of nucleic acid turning negative has been shortened by more than 2 days."

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)