The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday recommended using
arthritis drugs Actemra from Roche and Kevzara from Sanofi with corticosteroids for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients after data from some 11,000 patients showed they cut the risk of death.
A WHO group evaluating therapies concluded treating severe and critical COVID patients with these so-called interleukin-6 antagonists that block inflammation “reduces the risk of death and the need for mechanical ventilation.”
According to the WHO analysis, the risk of dying within 28 days for patients getting one of the arthritis drugs with corticosteroids such as dexamethasone is 21%, compared with an assumed 25% risk among those who got standard care. For every 100 such patients, four more will survive, the WHO said.
Moreover, the risk of progressing to mechanical ventilation or death was 26% for those getting the drugs and corticosteroids, compared with 33% in those getting standard care. The WHO said that meant for every 100 such patients, seven more will survive without mechanical ventilation.