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Covid-19: a promising treatment for serious patients

First glimmer of hope on the Cov2 treatment front. While 2,000 patients infected with Cov2 are in France engaged in clinical trials to test the possible benefit of existing drugs or molecules, the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) has just made public, for “ethical reasons “, the preliminary but promising results of a study on Tocilizumab (Actemra or RoActemra). This monoclonal antibody, usually used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, seems to help serious patients to overcome the “cytokine storm”, namely the deleterious over-reaction of their immune system, which sometimes leads to seven to ten days infection with Covid-19.

At the end of a randomized trial (with control group) launched on March 27 on 129 patients with acute respiratory disorders, the researchers of AP-HP in partnership with Inserm and the REACting consortium have in fact noted an improvement “Significant” fewer patients benefiting from this treatment, who are transferred to intensive care and die as a result of the infection.

This treatment only meets the need for “Only 5% to 10% of infected patients”but they are among those who have “The most risk of being placed on artificial respiration or dying”, specifies Professor Xavier Mariette, co-investigator coordinating the study. At this stage, the researchers did not observe more adverse side effects in patients who received the immunomodulator than in those who received standard treatment, according to the researcher.

Monday evening, the Directorate General of Health welcomed these results: “This is the first drug tested for which a significant effect has been observed in a clinical trial.” However, the administration insists on the need to conduct other clinical trials to confirm the value of this treatment, the study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Nathalie Raulin

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