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Closely watched arthritis drug disappoints as a Covid-19 treatment, studies show
Source: STAT
MATTHEW HERPER
APRIL 27, 2020
An arthritis drug that was seen as a promising treatment for some Covid-19 patients delivered disappointing results in clinical studies, its makers, the drug firms Regeneron and Sanofi, said Monday.
The result could have an impact not only for their treatment, Kevzara, but also for a similar drug from Roche, Actemra, that is being used off-label in many hospitals. It also may lower the odds that other repurposed medicines used against autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis will benefit Covid-19 patients.
“When you try everything under the kitchen sink, most of the time it’s not going to deliver the results that you want, no matter what the small 20-patient or 30-patient studies say,” said George D. Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s co-founder and chief scientific officer.
Kevzara was not expected to directly block the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that is causing a global pandemic. But it was hoped that the drug would help ease the immune system’s overreaction to the virus — a “cytokine storm” that causes inflammation and fluid buildup in the lungs of many of the sickest patients — potentially helping to keep patients off of ventilators or saving their lives. Early data from a 21-patient study in China using Actemra had appeared promising.
The result could have an impact not only for their treatment, Kevzara, but also for a similar drug from Roche, Actemra, that is being used off-label in many hospitals. It also may lower the odds that other repurposed medicines used against autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis will benefit Covid-19 patients.
“When you try everything under the kitchen sink, most of the time it’s not going to deliver the results that you want, no matter what the small 20-patient or 30-patient studies say,” said George D. Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s co-founder and chief scientific officer.
Kevzara was not expected to directly block the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that is causing a global pandemic. But it was hoped that the drug would help ease the immune system’s overreaction to the virus — a “cytokine storm” that causes inflammation and fluid buildup in the lungs of many of the sickest patients — potentially helping to keep patients off of ventilators or saving their lives. Early data from a 21-patient study in China using Actemra had appeared promising.
Read more about this study: https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/27/arthritis-drug-kevzara-disappoints-as-coronavirus-treatment/
That first sentence in the second paragraph seems to have something missing but that is pasted exactly how it is in the article (unless I'm just having trouble making sense of it. It's early, it could just be me.)
EDIT: Kevzara is also known by the name Sarilumab and Actemra is also called Tocilizumab (There was just a positive case study on Tocilizumab yesterday: a patient with Multiple Myeloma and COVID-19. The case study claimed the drug successfully treated his COVID-19)
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