UK Prime Minister: "Arthritis Drug Found to Reduce COVID-19 Mortality by 24%"

Two Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatments Reduce Mortality
Previous Clinical Trials by Roche and Sanofi Showed Treatment Failures

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that two rheumatoid arthritis treatments that can reduce the mortality rate of severe COVID-19 patients have passed clinical trials and will soon be administered to patients. These treatments had previously failed in clinical trials conducted by global pharmaceutical companies Roche and Sanofi, which is expected to spark controversy in the future.

According to foreign media including the UK's BBC on the 7th (local time), Prime Minister Johnson stated, "The rheumatoid arthritis treatments tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced the risk of death in critically ill patients by one-quarter," adding, "These drugs shortened the time spent in intensive care units by more than 10 days." He further said, "They have just passed rigorous clinical trials and will soon be distributed for treatment use."

Tocilizumab and sarilumab are COVID-19 treatments whose efficacy was announced on the same day by the Remap-Cap research team at Imperial College London, a COVID-19 treatment research group. The research team conducted clinical trials involving over 3,900 patients across 15 countries worldwide and announced that the rheumatoid arthritis treatments tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced the mortality rate of severe COVID-19 patients by approximately 24%.

According to the UK's Guardian, the research team conducted experiments comparing a group of COVID-19 ICU patients receiving standard treatment with groups injected with tocilizumab or sarilumab. After observing the patients' conditions for 21 days, the mortality rate was 35.8% for those receiving standard treatment, 28% for those treated with tocilizumab, and 22.2% for those treated with sarilumab. The research team stated that the mortality rate of patients prescribed the two drugs was on average 8.5 percentage points lower.

However, since the study has not yet undergone formal peer review and has not been published in academic journals, and because previous pharmaceutical company clinical trials failed to confirm treatment efficacy, controversy is expected in the future. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Roche entered clinical trials for tocilizumab and Sanofi, along with Regeneron, for sarilumab last July to verify their effectiveness in treating COVID-19 but announced failure in treatment. These pharmaceutical companies had initiated clinical trials following announcements by Chinese medical staff in March that these treatments were effective against COVID-19.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.