Abstract:Objective To explore the effectiveness and safety of azvudine for moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection after kidney transplantation.Methods The clinical data of 67 patients with moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection after kidney transplantation treated in the Department of Transplantation of the People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region during December 1, 2022 and June 30, 2024 were collected. According to the type of anti-SARS-CoV-2 medication administered, the patients were divided into the azvudine group (41 cases) and the molnupiravir group (26 cases). Comparative analyses were performed between the two groups regarding the time to clinical symptom relief, time to SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid negativity or reduction in viral load, disease severity, liver function, creatinine levels, coagulation function, incidence of severe disease, mortality, and adverse events.Results No statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of sex distribution, age, preoperative dialysis duration, dialysis modality, underlying diseases, time from transplantation to infection onset, target tacrolimus concentrations before and after infection, mixed infections, WHO Clinical Progression Scale scores on admission, SARS-CoV-2 ORF and N gene copy numbers from throat swabs on admission, or the combined use of methylprednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin (P > 0.05). There were also no statistically significant differences between the two groups in the time to clinical symptom improvement, time to reduction of pulmonary CT lesions, incidence of severe cases, mortality, highest WHO clinical progression scale scores, time to SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid or antigen negativity, time to reduction in viral nucleic acid copy number, white blood cell counts on admission and discharge, C-reactive protein levels on admission and discharge, or procalcitonin levels on admission and discharge (P > 0.05). In addition, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups regarding alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, prothrombin time, creatinine levels on admission and discharge, or the composition of adverse events (P > 0.05). The incidence of adverse events was also comparable between the two groups (P > 0.05).Conclusion Azvudine is safe and effective for the treatment of moderate COVID-19 infection in kidney transplant recipients and demonstrates clinical efficacy that is not inferior to molnupiravir.