INTERVIEW
A new molecule to support research against the coronavirus? The first results of a clinical trial conducted on 129 patients and coordinated by the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) show on Monday that tocilizumab makes it possible to limit the entry into intensive care or death. For Professor Gabriel Steg, vice-president in charge of research at the AP-HP and guest of Europe 1 Monday evening, "it's a treatment of the most serious forms" of Covid-19.
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Tocilizumab is a drug commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that causes the immune system to become inflamed. However, between the 8th and 10th day of the coronavirus, the immune system can panic. It is the "inflammatory storm", with lung damage that can lead to death.
Randomized trial method
French researchers therefore tested this drug on 129 serious patients to see if it would avoid the stage of the "immune storm" and the transition to intensive care. "The results obtained are fairly clear and are obtained by the method of randomized trials, that is to say by drawing lots between two groups which are exactly comparable at the outset because they were drawn by lot", explains the Pr Gabriel Steg.
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The trial coordinators note that "the number of patients undergoing intensive care" has been reduced "significantly" thanks to tocilizumab. In addition, observes Professor Gabriel Steg, "the researchers did not find an excess of side effects" whereas "it is a treatment which is known to have a certain number of side effects".
Analyzes will follow "soon enough"
If these first results are conclusive, it should nevertheless be remembered that this is a whole scientific journey that this drug must go through to possibly be prescribed against severe forms of the disease: "The researchers have done a test, they are analyzing the results, they evaluate it, they publish it, the scientific community evaluates it and then the health authorities make their decision on whether they give an indication for the treatment of Covid-19 pneumonia ", describes Professor Gabriel Steg.
"How long will it take for these results to be published and analyzed by the health authorities?", Also questions the man who is also a cardiologist at the Bichat hospital in Paris. "I think it will go fairly quickly because everyone understands the very specific epidemic context we are in. The health authorities were helpful in approving the trial."