According to a new French study published in The Lancet, an anti-rheumatic treatment could prove effective in the fight against Covid-19. This drug would in particular reduce the number of deaths and artificial respiration for severe forms of the disease.
- Anakinra is a drug originally used to treat rheumatism and is taken by injection under the skin.
- The objective of this mode of treatment is to counter a disorder called “cytokine storm”, an uncontrolled inflammatory response observed in the severe forms of pneumonia triggered by Covid-19.
- In the experimental group, a quarter of patients treated with anakinra died or were placed on respiratory assistance, compared to 73% in patients not treated with this drug.
Chloroquine, plasma, kaletra… Since the appearance of SARS-CoV-2, the race for treatment is not weakening and is even tending to accelerate. A new track featured in the review The Lancet Rheumatology brings a glimmer of hope for the most serious forms of the disease. Led by doctors from Saint-Joseph Hospital in Paris and carried out on 52 patients with a severe form of Covid-19 (with a control group of 44 patients), the study administered for 10 days by sub-injection skin a drug originally used to treat rheumatism, known as anakinra.
The objective of this mode of treatment is to counter a disorder called “cytokine storm”, an uncontrolled inflammatory response observed in severe forms of pneumonia triggered by Covid-19 and which can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome. The drug anakinra is used here to block one of the cytokines (immune system agents) called interleukin-1 (IL-1) and responsible for the cytokine storm.
Reduced oxygen requirement after 7 days
At the end of the experiment, the doctors who supervised the work noted a “statistically significant reduction in the risk of death and resuscitation for respiratory assistance by mechanical ventilation”. In the experimental group, a quarter of patients treated with anakinra died or were placed on respiratory assistance, compared to 73% in patients not treated with this drug. Anakinra also led to a significant reduction in patients’ oxygen needs within 7 days of receiving treatment, the study points out.
Despite convincing results, these are only the first experiments (twelve clinical trials are currently underway to test the action of anakinra). “There is an urgent need to improve the prognosis of patients with cytokine storms. To achieve this, there is a need to raise awareness and recognition of these syndromes, through interspecialty collaboration, multicentre international registries and controlled trials that will facilitate the development of validated and evidence-based guidelines.”, believe the authors of the publication.
Last April, the results of a randomized trial conducted by the AP-HP on tocilizumab – an IL6 receptor inhibitor commonly used in the management of rheumatoid arthritis – demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in the risk of intubation and death in patients hospitalized with pneumonia with oxygen requirements.
