The European Medicine Agency (EMA) has recommended this Monday to extend the indication of the Tocilizumab drug for its use in the treatment of patients with severe Covid. According to the indications of EMA, the medication would be indicated in cases of patients who are receiving corticosteroid therapy and require mechanical ventilation or oxygen supply.
The drug, owned by Roche and marketed as Rooctemra, was currently approved for the treatment of inflammatory problems such as rheumatoid arthritis or juvenile systemic idiopathic arthritis.
The European Agency has decided to extend the indication of the drug after analyzing the data of a study with 4,116 patients with severe Covid that were under mechanical ventilation or oxygen supplementation and presented high levels in Blood C-reactive blood, an indicator of inflammation.
In July, the World Health Organization had already recommended the use of Tocilizumab in severe patients of Covid.
The study showed that adding tocilizumab to standard therapy reduced the risk of death compared to conventional treatment. Specifically, 31% of the patients who received Tocilizumab (621 of 2022) died in a period of 28 days. In the group that did not receive the treatment, this percentage was 35%.
On the other hand, 57% of patients who followed the treatment with Tocilizumab In addition to conventional therapy were discharged in the following four weeks, while in the control group abandoned the hospital in the aforementioned period by 50% of patients .
The study indicates that an increase in mortality can not be ruled out in patients who are not in prior treatment with corticosteroids, so it should be administered only in case this therapy is previously indicated. In patients already in corticosteroids therapy, the addition of Tocilizumab provides more benefits than risks, according to EMA.
Tocilizumab is a monoclonal antibody that binds the receptors of molecules called Interleukins 6, which the immune system produces as a response to systemic inflammation. These molecules fulfill an important role in the development of severe Covid. Therefore, when joining the aforementioned recipients, the drug manages to reduce inflammation and improve the symptoms of the disease.
Date Of Update: 08 December 2021, 11:14
