Bibliographic information
Recommendation
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends against administering lopinavir/ritonavir for treatment of COVID-19. This recommendation applies to patients with any disease severity and any duration of symptoms.
Recommended against
Strong
Certainty of evidence
Low
Notes and Remarks
Additional considerations In patients who have undiagnosed or untreated HIV, use of lopinavir/ritonavir alone may promote HIV resistance to important antiretrovirals. Widespread use of lopinavir/ritonavir for COVID-19 may cause drug shortages for people living with HIV.
Also Featured In
This recommendation also appears in the following guidelines:
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 17 December 2020.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 31 March 2021.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 6 July 2021.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 24 September 2021.
Therapeutics and COVID-19. Living guideline. 7 December 2021
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 3 March 2022.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 22 April 2022.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 14 July 2022.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 16 September 2022.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 13 January 2023.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, 10 November 2023.
Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, August 2025