BOSTON (WHDH) - Research led by doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital could bring new hope for those critically sick due to COVID-19.
A new study found that the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab reduces the mortality rate of critically ill patients by as much as 30 percent.
“I think it’s an extremely exciting finding, 30 percent mortality reduction is a major finding,” said Dr. David Leaf, MD, from the Division of Renal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The study looked at more than 14,000 patients from 68 hospitals who were given the drug within two days of going into intensive care.
“We’re interested in early use of the drug because we wanted patients to receive it before irreversible organ injury had occurred, and that’s why we looked at early use,” Leaf explained.
Researchers say with COVID-19, it’s often the body’s own response to the virus that proves most deadly.
“In a lot of these patients with severe COVID-19, our body is mounting a profound inflammatory response,” Leaf said. “That inflammation may be causing more harm than the virus itself.”
Tocilizumab reduces inflammation only where it’s needed.
“This drug that we’re looking at, tocilizumab, is like steroids in that it’s anti-inflammatory but it’s a much more targeted therapy,” Leaf added.
He says results were the same over many different demographics.
“So if it were my mother or my father in the ICU, I would want them to get tocilizumab,” Leaf said, “but I also want to stress the importance of randomized controlled trials.”
Doctors say more clinical trials are needed before the drug sees widespread use but that the results are promising.
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