Roche's Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Fails to Help COVID-19 Patients (Again)

The search for an effective treatment that can dampen the overactive immune systems in patients with COVID-19 continues unsuccessfully. The latest return victim: Roche's (OTC: RHHBY) Actemra, which failed a phase 3 study in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19-associated pneumonia.

In severe COVID-19 patients, it isn't the virus that's causing most of the serious symptoms but the overreaction of the patient's immune system that results in autoimmune damage. The same is true -- to a lesser extent -- with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, so Roche and others figured it was worth trying its rheumatoid arthritis drug, Actemra, in patients with COVID-19.

Unfortunately, the hypothesis didn't pan out. In the primary endpoint, Actemra didn't improve patients' seven-symptom category score by a statistically significant margin compared to placebo. And mortality, one of the key secondary endpoints, also didn't show an effect, with 19.7% of patients taking Actemra dying within four weeks compared to 19.4% of patients taking a placebo.

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Source Fool.com