--- title: Possible Breakthrough in MERS Treatment After Marmosets Cured description: Two widely available drugs, currently used to treat HIV and sclerosis, have been found to cure MERS-infected monkeys, new research says canonical: https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-28T08:19:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:13.596Z article:section: Health og:title: There May Have Been a Major Breakthrough in MERS Treatment og:description: Disease cured in monkeys through use of existing drugs og:url: https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaa73237ced6a3/69885cb2f887dc7b63e918f4/gettyimages-487737801.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: 487737801 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There May Have Been a Major Breakthrough in MERS Treatment twitter:description: Disease cured in monkeys through use of existing drugs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaa73237ced6a3/69885cb2f887dc7b63e918f4/gettyimages-487737801.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There May Have Been a Major Breakthrough in MERS Treatment > Sponsored content. 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Some people may get a new flu shot that’s made with dog cells instead of chicken eggs_ by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jul 28, 2015 8:19 AM UTC  Mers-cov coronavirus Mers-cov coronavirus Getty Images by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jul 28, 2015 8:19 AM UTC Two existing and widely available drugs may [prove](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1844176/hku-scientists-recommend-two-drugs-now-use-treat) to be effective treatments for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), new research published by the University of Hong Kong suggests. According to the _South China Morning Post_, the medicines—lopinavir with ritonavir and a type of interferon—were tested on marmosets, small monkeys that a 2014 U.S. study concluded would be the best subject for MERS trials because of the way their reactions to the virus mimics human illness. The drugs, currently used to treat HIV and sclerosis, were found to be effective in curing MERS-infected marmosets. The research is the first of its kind in the world. “We would recommend doctors to start using both drugs immediately to treat MERS patients if they are critical,” said Jasper Chan Fuk-woo, one of the researchers, told _SCMP_. “The evidence in this study is quite strong in proving the effectiveness of these two drugs.” Currently, there is no known cure for MERS. Meanwhile, South Korea, which struggled with a MERS outbreak in May and June, has not reported any new MERS cases for 23 days and no deaths for more than two weeks. The country declared a “de-facto end” to its outbreak on July 28, although a spokesman for the World Health Organization [told](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33684981) the BBC it would not declare an official end to the country’s outbreak until 28 days had passed with no new infections—twice the disease’s incubation period. \[[_SCMP_](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1844176/hku-scientists-recommend-two-drugs-now-use-treat)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/"},"headline":"There May Have Been a Major Breakthrough in MERS Treatment","datePublished":"2015-07-28T08:19:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:13.596Z","description":"Researchers in Hong Kong have cured infected monkeys of MERS using existing drugs","url":"https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/","keywords":["MERS","medicine","Hong Kong","South Korea","Science topic","monkeys"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaa73237ced6a3/69885cb2f887dc7b63e918f4/gettyimages-487737801.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Greenberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaa73237ced6a3/69885cb2f887dc7b63e918f4/gettyimages-487737801.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"487737801","caption":"487737801","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mers/","name":"MERS"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/","name":"There May Have Been a Major Breakthrough in MERS Treatment"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Flu Shot Is Not Like the Others","description":"Some people may get a new flu shot that’s made with dog cells instead of chicken eggs","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1thSi60s/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-30T14:53:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1thSi60s.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/","duration":"PT2M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3974257/mers-treatment-drugs-marmosets-lopinavir-ritonavir/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```