Roche’s arthritis drug reduces mortality in hospitalized patients with severe Covid

A drug used to treat people with rheumatoid arthritis appears to reduce the risk of death in hospitalized patients with severe Covid-19, especially when combined with the steroid dexamethasone, researchers from the University of Paris said Thursday. ‘Oxford.

Oxford researchers also found tocilizumab, an intravenous drug made by a division of Swiss drug maker Roche, has also reduced patient length of stay in hospitals and reduced the need for a ventilator. The study was part of the Recovery trial, which has been testing a range of potential treatments for Covid-19 since March.

“Previous trials with tocilizumab had shown mixed results, and it was not clear which patients might benefit from the treatment,” said Peter Horby, professor at the University of Oxford and co-chief investigator of the Recovery trial, in a press release. “We now know that the benefits of tocilizumab extend to all COVID patients with low oxygen levels and severe inflammation.

A total of 2,022 patients were randomly selected to receive tocilizumab, marketed under the brand name Actemra, by intravenous infusion and compared to 2,094 patients randomly selected to receive standard care alone. Researchers said 82% of patients were also taking a steroid such as dexamethasone, another drug that has been shown to reduce the number of deaths in sicker Covid-19 patients.

The researchers said 596 patients in the tocilizumab group died within 28 days compared to 694 patients in the standard care group. This means that for 25 patients treated with tocilizumab, “an extra life would be saved,” the Oxford researchers said.

The drug increased the likelihood of discharge within 28 days from 47% to 54%, the researchers said. The benefits were seen in all patients, including those requiring mechanical ventilators in an intensive care unit, they added. Among patients who were not on a ventilator before entering the trial, tocilizumab reduced the risk of progressing to invasive mechanical ventilation or death by 38% to 33%, the researchers said.

The researchers said that using tocilizumab in combination with dexamethasone appears to reduce mortality by about a third for patients requiring oxygen and almost half for those requiring a ventilator.

The results of the Oxford study have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Public health officials and infectious disease experts say world leaders will need a range of drugs and vaccines to end the pandemic, which has infected more than 107.4 million people and killed at least 2.3 million people in just over a year, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved remdesivir, an antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences, as a treatment for patients with Covid-19 who are at least 12 years of age and require hospitalization.

The FDA has cleared the use of two monoclonal antibody treatments as well as two vaccines – from Pfizer and Moderna. A third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, is expected to be cleared by the FDA as early as this month.

The Covid-19 Therapy Randomized Assessment Trial, or recovery trial, was set up in March by researchers at the University of Oxford to find treatments for Covid-19. The trial has previously shown that hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir-ritonavir, azithromycin, and convalescent plasma have no benefit for patients hospitalized with Covid-19.

The trial is currently investigating aspirin, the anti-inflammatory drugs baricitinib and colchicine, and the Regeneron antibody cocktail.