medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.22.20034041; this version posted March 24, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license . First Clinical Study Using HCV Protease Inhibitor Danoprevir to Treat Naïve and Experienced COVID-19 Patients Hongyi Chen1*, Zhicheng Zhang2, Li Wang1, Zhihua Huang3, Fanghua Gong4, Xiaodong Li5, Yahong Chen5, Jinzi J. Wu5,6* 1 The first department of infectious disease, the nineth hospital of Nanchang, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China 2 The intensive care unit, the nineth hospital of Nanchang, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China 3 The radiology department, the nineth hospital of Nanchang, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China 4 The second department of infectious disease, the nineth hospital of Nanchang, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China 5 Ascletis Bioscience Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China 6 Ascletis pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, China * Corresponding authors (1) Jinzi J. Wu: Room 1201, Building 3, No.371 Xingxing road, Xiaoshan district, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang province; E-mail:
[email protected] (2) Hongyi Chen: 167 Hongdu Middle Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China; E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), started in China in January, 2020, repurposing approved drugs is emerging as important therapeutic options. We reported here the first clinical study using hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, danoprevir, to treat COVID-19 patients.