Covid-19: Arthritis drugs improve survival in intensive care patients, shows study
Jacqui Wise
Abstract
Covid-19: Arthritis drugs improve survival in intensive care patients, shows study Jacqui WiseTwo rheumatoid arthritis drugs will now be used to treat the patients with severe covid-19 in intensive care, after new findings have shown that they significantly improve survival and cut the time spent in hospital by a week to 10 days.Results from the REMAP-CAP trial showed that the interleukin 6 receptor antagonists tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced mortality from 35.8% to 27.3% compared with standard care-an absolute reduction of 8.5% and a relative reduction in mortality of 24%. 1 The benefit was seen when the drugs were given within 24 hours of patients entering intensive care and were in addition to a corticosteroid, such as dexamethasone.