Baricitinib plus remdesivir shows promise for treating COVID-19

The combination of baricitinib, an anti-inflammatory drug, and remdesivir, an antiviral, reduced time to recovery for people hospitalized with COVID-19.

By: Satata Karmakar | | Published: December 12, 2020 7:47 pm

Baricitinib combo for COVID-19 accelerates recovery: Study (Representative Image)

The combination of baricitinib, an anti-inflammatory drug, and remdesivir, an antiviral, reduced time to recovery for people hospitalized with COVID-19, according to clinical trial results published earlier this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Also Read - Covid-19 variant detected in UK may be ‘more deadly than the older virus strain’

The study was supported by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Also Read - ‘Enhanced immunity, no serious adverse events’: Lancet releases Covaxin’s Phase 1 trial data

Researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluating baricitinib plus remdesivir in hospitalized adults with COVID-19. All the patients received remdesivir and either baricitinib or placebo. Also Read - Is reinfection of coronavirus a reality? Know if you are at risk

A total of 1,033 patients participated in the trial, with 515 assigned to combination treatment, and 518 to control group

THE COMBINATION OF BARICITINIB AND RAMDESIVIR

Results show the combination of baricitinib and remdesivir reduced median time to recovery in hospitalized COVID-19 patients from eight days to seven days, reports Xinhua news agency.

Patients who required high-flow oxygen or non-invasive ventilation during their hospitalization appeared to have had the largest benefit, as their median time to recovery was shortened from 18 days to 10 days.

In addition, participants’ conditions on day 15 of the study were significantly improved when they received the two therapeutics combined. Recipients of the two treatments also had slightly fewer serious adverse effects, according to the study.

These results do appear to show that baricitinib plus remdesivir can benefit some COVID-19 patients and the combination deserves further clinical study, according to the researchers.

WHERE ARE WE IN THE RACE OF COVID-19 VACCINE?

#UK was the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, paving the way for mass vaccinations against the deadly novel coronavirus.

#On the other hand, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE received US regulatory authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine earlier this week, making it the first inoculation against the new coronavirus to get a regulatory green light in the United States.

#Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given conditional approval for Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of India’s first mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate — HGCO19 — that is being developed by Gennova Biopharmaceuticals.

#Last week, coronavirus vaccination kicked off in Moscow for at-risk groups including medical, educational, and social workers.

Other than these, AstraZeneca said on December 11 that it would test a combination of its vaccine with one of Sputnik V’s two components to try to boost the efficacy of the shot it is developing with Oxford University. Also, the Butantan Institute, a Brazilian biomedical centre, is producing CoronaVac and aims to make 1 million doses a day ahead of a vaccine campaign to be launched in late January. With all these, the US firm Novavax is running a late-stage trial in Britain with data due in the first quarter of 2021. And above all the other US pharmaceutical company Moderna is ahead of the pack at this point.

(With inputs from IANS)

Published : December 12, 2020 7:47 pm

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