French scientists say a study has shown tocilizumab – a drug normally used to treat arthritis – is effective at treating COVID-19 patients in a severe condition.
The Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP) says the study into immuno-modulating drug tocilizumab, commonly used in the treatment of polyarthritis, has been shown to be effective in preventing “inflammatory storm” in COVID-19 patients in a severe condition.
The researchers said that the as-yet-unpublished study showed tocilizumab “significantly” reduced the proportion of patients who had to be transferred to intensive care.
At a telephone press conference, the researchers who conducted the study revealed that it is the “first comparative trial by drawing lots” that “demonstrates a clinical benefit” of this treatment in COVID-19 patients suffering from a severe infection.
One-hundred-and-twenty-nine people in 13 hospitals were included in the study, coronavirus patients with “moderate to severe” pneumonia who required oxygen assistance, and the first results of the study were unveiled yesterday (27th April).
Xavier Mariette, co-investigator and coordinator of the study, says the patient profile corresponds “to only 5 to 10 percent of patients infected” with the coronavirus, but they are among those most at risk of being placed on artificial respiration or dying.
Local media report that half of the participants received one or two injections of tocilizumab in addition to standard treatment (oxygen, antibiotics and anticoagulants), while the other half received only standard care.
They were then followed for 14 days to obtain these interim results, with follow-up checks continuing to confirm the findings.
According to Mariette, at this stage, the researchers did not observe adverse more side effects in patients who received tocilizumab than in those who received standard treatment.
These results have yet to be “consolidated” and will be published in a scientific journal within a few weeks, local media report.
But the AP-HP explains that it has decided to make them public now “for public health reasons”, due to the context of the pandemic crisis, and has communicated them to the French health authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Tocilizumab (also known as Actemra or RoActemra), belongs to the family of monoclonal antibodies (antibodies created in the laboratory), derived from one and the same strain of lymphocytes and designed to respond to a specific target, reports state.
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Story By: Ernest Bio Bogore, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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