Researchers behind a new international medical study have claimed an arthritis drug may reduce the risk of death for elderly patients struck down with COVID-19.
The study, led by scientists at Imperial College London and the Karolinska Institutet of Sweden, has been published this week in the journal Science Advances.
As part of the study, 83 patients – with a median age of 81 and all suffering from moderate to severe COVID-19 infection – were given a drug called baricitinib. The medication is normally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and was initially identified by the Imperial team using artificial intelligence as a drug that could have anti-viral and anti-inflammatory effects.
In the study, the patients – who were located in hospitals across Italy and Spain – had a 71% reduced risk of dying compared to patients who had not taken the drug.
The study also found that 17% of patients who were given the drug died or needed to go on a ventilator, compared to 35% in the control group who were not given the medication.
The research team say the findings are being followed up with large-scale clinical trials.
“We urgently need to find more effective treatments for COVID-19 while we wait for a vaccine to become widely available,” said Professor Justin Stebbing, co-lead author of the study.
“The study suggests this drug can aid recovery of patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, and may provide a new weapon in our arsenal against the virus. Large-scale clinical trials of this drug, to further investigate its potential, are now under way,” he said.
The study’s findings revealed that the drug may help work in two ways – to reduce organ damage caused by inflammation, and by blocking the COVID-19 virus entering human cells.
