Coronavirus: Pfizer treatment for arthritis reduces risk of death

A arthritis medications Pfizer, tofacitinib, ayud a reduce mortality or respiratory failure in patients hospitalized for coronavirus with pneumonia, according to the company.

Pfizer pointed out that the incidence of death O respiratory failure it was 18.1% in the patients treated with the remedy, against 29% for the placebo. On the other hand, there was serious adverse events in 20 patients treated with the product, compared to 17 patients on placebo.

The drug has been tested on 289 adult patients hospitalized in Brazil. The study was coordinated by the University Research Organization of Israelita Albert Einstein Hospital (St.Paul) and the results were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

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The drug has also been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of so-called cytokine storm, a disproportionate reaction of the body to coronavirus which can lead to a serious complication.

It should be noted that so far tofacitinib – which belongs to a class of drugs called JAK inhibitors and which also treats autoimmune ulcerative colitis -, has not been approved or authorized for use in any country for the treatment of Covid-19.

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On the other hand, Otavio Berwanger, one of the researchers, pointed out that tofacitinib “it is a drug that requires medical monitoring. It should not be administered at home. In these patients who were watched, followed closely, and who had no contraindication to the drug, we did not observe an increase in adverse events compared to the patients who used the placebo. “