RESULTS from the ACTT-2 trial reveal that baricitinib combined with remdesivir reduced the recovery time of hospitalized Covid-19 patients from 8 to 7 days. The reduced recovery time was even more significant in patients requiring oxygen or ventilation.
As the world rejoiced over the promising results from several Covid-19 vaccine candidates, the United States set a new record of 300,000 coronavirus deaths. This was a stark reminder that some people cannot wait for a vaccine next spring.
The ACTT-2 clinical trial recently investigated the use of both remdesivir and baricitinib, which may help with the recovery of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. The findings now appear in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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One reason that Covid-19 is so hard to treat is that it has numerous effects on the body. These range from lung infections to neurological problems.
Drug repurposing allows for already approved drugs to expedite drug development. Baricitinib has approval to treat rheumatoid arthritis. However, a June study in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine showed evidence to suggest that baricitinib’s antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties helped reduce the viral load, decrease inflammation, and improve symptoms of Covid-19 in hospitalized patients.
Remdesivir, an antiviral agent that scientists initially designed to treat Ebola, is beneficial as a Covid-19 treatment. A November clinical trial in The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that people who took remdesivir had a reduced recovery time of 10 days (versus 15 days in people who took a placebo).
Currently, remdesivir is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved for Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalization. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) have cautioned against using remdesivir, citing a lack of survival data to support its use for this purpose.
Therefore, researchers for the ACTT-2 trial hypothesized that combining baricitinib and remdesivir would be more effective than using either drug alone. From May 8, 2020, to July 1, 2020, the clinical trial enrolled 1,033 people worldwide. Although 48% of the participants were white, 51.4% were Hispanic or Latino, 15% were Black, 9.8% were Asian, and 1% were American Indian or Alaska Native.
The diversity in trial recruitment will make the results more applicable for marginalized populations, who have a disproportionally higher risk of Covid-19 development and death.
