There is not enough evidence to prove that antiretroviral HIV medications, particularly Lopinavir and Ritonavir (LPV/r) are effective treatments for SARS. The question lost urgency when SARS receded as a threat in 2004, but as the coronavirus causing the 2020 pandemic is from the same family of virus it has received renewed attention.
The Center for Evidence-Based Medicine reports that while LPV/r treatments have shown some promise in small studies of both COVID-19 and SARS, more research is needed. According to the World Health Organization, studies of HIV medications as antiretroviral agents against SARS and COVID-19 are underway, but certainty of evidence is “very low” due to small sample size and other variables.