Oxfordy University's ongoing Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) clinical trials have demonstrated that the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab developed by the pharmaceutical maker Roche
Researchers also found that tocilizumab, an intravenous medication commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, also shortens that patient's hospital stay and reduces the need for a ventilator. The drug was shown to work better when combined with the steroid dexamethasone.
"Previous trials of tocilizumab had shown mixed results, and it was unclear which patients might benefit from the treatment," said Peter Horby, a University of Oxford professor and joint chief investigator for the RECOVERY trial, in a statement. "We now know that the benefits of tocilizumab extend to all COVID patients with low oxygen levels and significant inflammation. The double impact of dexamethasone plus tocilizumab is impressive and very welcome."
Last June, RECOVERY trial researchers found that the steroid dexamethasone reduced death rates by about a third among severely-ill COVID patients. The drug, which is cheap and widely available, became the standard treatment for most hospitalized severely-ill patients.
The trial compared 2,022 patients randomly assigned to receive tocilizumab as a treatment for their severe COVID infection with 2,094 patients receiving only standard care. Of the total clinical trial group, 82% of patients were also taking dexamethasone as part of their treatment.
Researchers found that 596 patients treated with tocilizumab died with 28 days compared to 694 patients receiving only standard care. That means for every 25 patients treated with the anti-inflammatory drug, "one additional life would be saved," according to the researchers.
The drug also increased a patient's probability of leaving the hospital within 28 days from 47% in the control group to 54% when treated with tocilizumab. For patients not requiring a ventilator at the beginning of the trial, tocilizumab reduced the need for a ventilator or death from 38% to 33%.
Moreover, the trial data suggests that hospitalized COVID patients that require oxygen when treated with a combination of tocilizumab and dexamethasone reduces mortality by about a third when compared to those just receiving oxygen and half for those requiring a ventilator.
The preliminary results of the study will be submitted to a peer-reviewed medical journal.
The RECOVERY clinical trials were founded by Oxford University in March 2020 to look for possible COVID treatments from already developed medicines.
