An arthritis drug, Tofacitinib, has shown positive effects in treating patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in a clinical trial whose results were published this Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The cachet, sold among others under the Xeljanz brand, has been tested in a clinical trial on 289 patients hospitalized with severe forms of Covid-19, across fifteen sites in Brazil.
Half of these patients received the drug (two tablets of 10 milligrams per day) and standard care, the other half received a placebo and treatment.
After 28 days, 18.1% of the members of the treatment group developed respiratory failure, requiring intubation, a ventilator, or died, compared to 29% of the placebo group.
In total, some 5.5% of the members of the placebo group died compared to “only” 2.8% of patients taking Tofacitinib.
A clinical trial in partnership with Pfizer
"We are encouraged by the first results of our randomized trial of Tofacitinib in patients hospitalized with Covid-19 pneumonia," said Otavio Berwanger of the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, who conducted the clinical trial, in partnership with Pfizer.
Tofacitinib is approved in the United States to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.
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