Hundreds of critically ill coronavirus patients to get arthritis drug in NHS trial
HUNDREDS of the most critically ill coronavirus patients in the NHS are to be will be given an arthritis drug as part of the world's largest trial of potential treatments.
Tocilizumab – which is marketed as Actemra – is normally taken by those crippled with the painful condition to help reduce chronic inflammation.
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But now experts will administer the drug via an IV drip to those whose lungs have become severely inflamed due to Covid-19.
Researchers hope that tocilizumab can work to reduce a dangerous inflammatory reaction which causes the lungs to fill with fluid - seen in some severe cases.
It's the latest medicine to be added to the Recovery trial, run by Oxford University, which has already recruited 6,000 NHS patients in five weeks.
With almost every acute care trust in the country taking part, it's become the biggest study to look at whether existing therapies could be used to treat Covid-19.
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Experts are also testing four other promising treatments, including HIV, malaria and antibiotic drugs.
Martin Landray, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford, told : "The transition between just having a nasty viral infection and needing ventilation is accompanied by this hyper-inflammatory response.
"There's good grounds for believing that if we can block that, then this might reduce the risk of going on to ventilation or dying.
"The drug has been used on quite large numbers of people in places like Italy, but it was done willy-nilly — so at the end of the day you have no idea whether it did any good, or indeed whether it did any harm."
Reduces inflammation
Tocilizumab works by reducing levels of IL-6 protein in the body, which can cause inflammation and damage.
The protein is usually found in abundance in those with rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune conditions.
Now researchers hope that it will also help to calm a dangerous immune response that often contributes to coronavirus deaths.
The body can go into overdrive and produce a flood of inflammatory molecules - known as a cytokine storm - which can cause the lungs to fill with fluid.
It's this reaction that can leave patients struggling to breathe as the tiny air sacs in the organ become blocked.
The lethal immune response is also considered to be a major factor behind organ failure and death in some Covid-19 patients.
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Chinese doctors are reported to have given tocilizumab to a sample of patients during the peak of the outbreak and say nearly all were discharged from hospital within a fortnight.
Beijing has already approved the “wonder drug” to treat coronavirus sufferers with serious lung damage caused by the inflammation.
And the Federal Drugs Administration in the US has already given the go-ahead for trials to be carried out on patients.
It comes after experts at Oxford University said a coronavirus vaccine could be just weeks away.
Professor Sarah Gilbert, who is working on a vaccine with a team at the university, is about to begin testing the vaccine, is confident it will work and says it could be ready by September.
MORE ON CORONAVIRUS
The drug is set to be tested in a six-month trial of 510 volunteers in the Thames Valley region with the progress so far being described as "astonishing".
Currently, there is no vaccine for Covid-19 but doctors across the globe are testing current anti-viral drugs to see if they can beat coronavirus.
Last month, scientists claimed an anti-tuberculous vaccine that was given to thousands of British schoolchildren could protect against coronavirus.
