New findings from the study undertaken by experts from the Imperial College London have shown that arthritis medications tocilizumab and sarilumab, both IL-6 receptor antagonists can potentially improve survival outcomes of critically-ill Covid-19 patient, reduce mortality by 8.5%, as well as hasten recovery for patients.

The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, come from the REMAP-CAP trial, which evaluates the effect of treatments on a combination of survival and length of time patients need support in an intensive care unit (ICU).

The study analyzed outcomes of 353 patients assigned to tocilizumab, 48 to sarilumab, and 402 to control. The majority of patients were also treated with corticosteroids and were receiving respiratory support.

Hospital mortality was reported as 27.3% among patients receiving IL-6 receptor agonists (28.0% for tocilizumab, 22.2% for sarilumab) compared with 35.8% for the control group.

Patients receiving tocilizumab and sarilumab were more likely to improve (measured by a combination of reduced time on organ support, such as a ventilator, in the ICU and surviving the hospital admission) compared to patients who received no immune modulator. The treatment also showed improved recovery among patients, so that on average, patients were able to be discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) about a week earlier.

The REMAP-CAP study is led by Imperial College London and the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) in the UK and University Medical Center Utrecht in Europe. It began investigating treatments for COVID-19 in March 2020, enrolling hospitalized patients with either moderate or severe (requiring ICU care) COVID-19 disease.

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