Study finds arthritis-treating drugs tocilizumab, sarilumab help reduce COVID-19 deaths-Health News , Firstpost

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to recommend patients with severe or severe Covid to use drugs known as IL-6 inhibitors in addition to corticosteroids. It was.

Manu Shankar-Hari, a professor at King’s College London and lead author of the treatise, told AFP that the study was “conclusive evidence” in favor of the drug, after various results from previous studies. It was.

In hospitalized Covid patients, administration of one of the drugs in addition to corticosteroids reduced the risk of death by 17% compared to using corticosteroids alone.

Patients who were not on ventilator had a 21% reduction in the risk of developing or dying on ventilator compared to using corticosteroids alone.

Severe Covid patients experience an immune system overreaction known as a “cytokine storm,” which can lead to serious organ damage and death.

Tocilizumab and sarilumab are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, by blocking the effects of interleukin (IL) -6, a protein called cytokines that signals the body to cause an inflammatory response. Will be done.

However, previous studies of whether IL-6 inhibitors are useful for severe Covid have reported various benefits, with no benefit or harm.

This has led WHO to coordinate a new study that combines data from 27 randomized trials conducted in 28 countries.

The analysis included information about 10,930 patients, of whom 6,449 were randomly assigned to receive interleukin-6 inhibitors and 4,481 were assigned to regular care or placebo.

Overall, the risk of death within 28 days was 22%, while the estimated risk for those receiving only regular care was 25%.

If patients were also given corticosteroids, the outcome was good and 21% were at risk of death compared to 25% of patients receiving conventional treatment.

This means that for every 100 such patients, four more will survive.

The study also looked at the effects of these drugs on whether patients progressed to ventilator or died.

Patients who also received corticosteroids had a 26% risk of receiving IL-6 inhibitors, compared with 33% of those who received conventional treatment.

In other words, for every 100 such patients, an additional 7 survive and avoid mechanical ventilation.

Tocilizumab and sarilumab, given by infusion or injection, are currently recommended for use with corticosteroids in critically ill Covid patients in the United Kingdom. The United States also recommends corticosteroids and tocilizumab.

Shankar-Hari can work with global organizations such as WHO to improve access to low- and middle-income medicines, where current costs can be exorbitant for widespread use. He said he hopes to be.