https://sabrinacarbone.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/tocilizumab-significantly-improves-prognosis-in-patients-with-moderate-to-severe-covid-pneumonia/ In patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, an immunologicallyinduced “cytokine storm” is thought to lead to acute respiratory failure anddeath. The CORIMUNO-19 platform wasdesigned and rapidly established to test the efficacy and safety of variousimmunomodulatory drugs and other treatments in adult patients with severeCOVID-19 infection through a series of multicentre randomised controlledtrials, which began on 27 March 2020. This press release relates to a multicentre, open-label, randomised,controlled trial of tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody that blocks the cytokineinterleukin-6 receptor, which is used, among other things, in the treatment ofrheumatoid arthritis. Patients were selected on the basis of hospitalization formoderate or severe COVID-19 pneumonia, but not requiring resuscitation at thetime of admission. The primary endpointwas the combination of the need for ventilation (mechanical or non-invasive) ordeath at D14. A total of 129 patients were randomized: 65 for usual therapy +tocilizumab and 64 for usual therapy. The primary endpoint was met in a significantly lower proportion ofpatients in the tocilizumab arm. The results of this trial will be submittedfor publication in a peer-reviewed journal. These results should be independently confirmed by further testing. Given the context of the pandemic, theinvestigators and the sponsor felt ethically obligated to share thisinformation, pending peer review while continuing the longer follow-up of thesepatients.
In patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, an immunologicallyinduced “cytokine storm” is thought to lead to acute respiratory failure anddeath. The CORIMUNO-19 platform wasdesigned and rapidly established to test the efficacy and safety of variousimmunomodulatory drugs and other treatments in adult patients with severeCOVID-19 infection through a series of multicentre randomised controlledtrials, which began on 27 March 2020. This press release relates to a multicentre, open-label, randomised,controlled trial of tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody that blocks the cytokineinterleukin-6 receptor, which is used, among other things, in the treatment ofrheumatoid arthritis. Patients were selected on the basis of hospitalization formoderate or severe COVID-19 pneumonia, but not requiring resuscitation at thetime of admission. The primary endpointwas the combination of the need for ventilation (mechanical or non-invasive) ordeath at D14. A total of 129 patients were randomized: 65 for usual therapy +tocilizumab and 64 for usual therapy. The primary endpoint was met in a significantly lower proportion ofpatients in the tocilizumab arm. The results of this trial will be submittedfor publication in a peer-reviewed journal. These results should be independently confirmed by further testing. Given the context of the pandemic, theinvestigators and the sponsor felt ethically obligated to share thisinformation, pending peer review while continuing the longer follow-up of thesepatients.