London: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended the use of arthritis drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab for patients with severe or critical COVID-19 along with corticosteroids. Such a treatment can reduce the risk of death and need for mechanical ventilation.
The recommendation is based on an analysis of 27 randomised trials in 28 countries, involving around 11,000 patients.
The study, published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showed that administering one of these drugs in addition to corticosteroids, in hospitalised patients, cuts risk of death by 17 per cent, compared to use of corticosteroids only.
For patients who are not on mechanical ventilation, risk of ventilation or death is cut by 21 per cent, compared to use of corticosteroids alone.
These are the first drugs which were found to be effective against COVID-19 since corticosteroids were recommended by WHO in September 2020.
“These drugs offer hope for patients and families who are suffering from the devastating impact of severe and critical Covid-19. But IL-6 receptor blockers remain inaccessible and unaffordable for the majority of the world,” WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“The inequitable distribution of vaccines means that people in low and middle-income countries are most susceptible to severe forms of Covid-19. So, the greatest need for these drugs is in countries that currently have the least access. We must urgently change this.”
WHO urged manufacturers to reduce prices of these drugs and make it available to low and middle-income countries, especially where the pandemic is surging.
