A RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS DRUG AIMING AT CORONAVIRUS
Regeneron and Sanofi Aim a Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug at Coronavirus
March 11, 2020
Could an arthritis medication show promise as a treatment for the symptoms related to the coronavirus?
That’s what Regeneron and Sanofi intend to find out.
The longtime developmental partners are aiming to see if Kevzara (Sarilumab), a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), could be effective against symptoms related to COVID-19. Kevzara could ease damage to the lungs and respiratory system caused by the body’s overreaction to COVID-19. Kevzara would not treat the underlying virus, just the immune system responses (The Wall Street Journal). The companies hope to have a trial “up and running” over the next several weeks or months in order to have data.Researchers are turning to multiple drugs on the market as there are yet no approved treatments or vaccines for the novel coronavirus. In China 🇨🇳, researchers have been using Roche’s Actemra (Tocilizumab), a drug similar to Kevzara, to help a small group of patients with severe or critical Covid-19 disease recover: several patients who received Actemra treatment “got out of death’s bed and walked out of the hospital.” The work done in China was with a small group of patients and did not have controls, nor did it have defined parameters for success.Both RA drugs are inhibitors of interleukin-6 (IL-6). The IL-6 protein triggers the body’s immune and inflammatory response to fight infections. However, if the immune system overreacts, healthy tissue and organs can be attacked, which seems to be the case with some coronavirus patients. Coronavirus is causing an acceleration of immune responses, which have attacked and damaged the lungs. By inhibiting IL-6, it could keep the body from attacking itself.
Even though the virus is diminishing, it’s sending signals to the immune system to keep attacking. If there’s too much inflammation, you end up killing cells that aren’t infected and leading to more damage than you really need.
Sanofi and Regeneron intend to study the drug in trials in the United States 🇺🇸, as well as overseas.In addition to its work with Kevzara, Regeneron is also exploring investigational drugs REGN3048 and REGN3051 as a treatment for coronavirus. The antibodies both bind to the S-protein of MERS coronavirus.Sanofi’s vaccine business is also collaborating on a vaccine.Other companies are also turning their resources toward the treatment of coronavirus as the number of coronavirus cases has topped 1,000 in the United States and 121,000 globally.
More than half of the diagnosed patients have recovered, but there have been a reported 4,373 deaths related to the disease.
For a broad look at COVID-19 and the industry response, BioSpace has compiled a significant update.BioSpace source: https://www.biospace.com/article/regeneron-and-sanofi-aim-a-rheumatoid-arthritis-drug-at-coronavirus
There is no medicine for common flu, everybody gets once in a while. People wants to fake and make money.
I think arthritis medication like Tocilizumab (or other IL-6 inhibitors) are definitely worth looking into. The research done already (although far from conclusive) shows promising results.
Article Interleukin-6 Causes Endothelial Barrier Dysfunction via the...
Preprint Interleukin-6 in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Article Tocilizumab, an anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, to treat COVID-...
Article Tocilizumab treatment in COVID-19: A single center experience
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.08.029769v1
http://www.chinaxiv.org/abs/202003.00026
However, Methotrexate (also an arthritis medication) could possibly have an adverse effect on (severe) Covid-19-complications, because it could possibly raise IL-6 (Olsen, 2014).
Article Methotrexate induces production of IL-1 and IL-6 in the mono...
Do not forget two other medications used for Rheumatoid arthritis for treatment of COVID-19: Hydroxychloroquine and Auranofin.
One of the commonest inexpensive medication used for Rheumatoid arthritis - Hydroxychloroquine, alone or in combination with Azithromycin is already part of the WHO-supervised SOLIDARITY trial in many countries for patients with COVID-19,.
Another old medication used for Rheumatoid arthritis, Auranofin (a gold salt) has shown promise and is also a potential drug for COVID-19.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-19-treatments
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200416/Gold-containing-drug-auranofin-kills-9525-of-SARS-CoV-2-virus-in-48-hours-in-lab-conditions.aspx
For this kind of approach, timing is the key. Early administration of cytokine inhibitor may impede cytokine downstream signaling that also responsible for antiviral innate immunity. On the other hand, the late administration of such drugs may not give expected outcome.
Please take a look at the following RG link.
Article Mechanism of baricitinib supports artificial intelligence‐pr...
Tocilizumab, marketed as Actemra, is an immunosuppressive drug used primarily to treat rheumatoid arthritis and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, The Chinese National Health commission has included tocilizumab in its guidelines for treating COVID-19-related pneumonia and other lung issues.
Please have a look at the following link:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-arthritis-drug-treatment-covid-pneumonia.html
Several studies are underway. Someone was encouraging but stronger evidence is needed.
I see no relation between the medication of a respiratory virus and arthritis, but a hidden effect cannot be ruled out.
Baricitinib an oral drug, used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been strongly recommended by WHO for treatment of COVID-19.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/who-strongly-recommends-arthritis-drug-for-severe-covid-19