Shawdesh Desk:

A newly identified drug may be used to effectively treat some patients hospitalised with COVID-19 pneumonia, according to a study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, PTI reported.

The team, including researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford, UK, tested namilumab — an antibody already in late-stage trials to treat rheumatoid arthritis — in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 pneumonia.

The patients were receiving ‘usual’ care, as well as having high levels in their blood of a marker of inflammation known as C reactive protein (CRP).

CRP levels rise when there is inflammation in the body, and elevated levels of CRP have been found to be a potential early marker to predict risk for severity of COVID-19, the researchers said.

“Our research has provided important proof-of-concept evidence that namilumab reduces inflammation in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia,” said Ben Fisher, co-chief investigator of the trial at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB).

The trial carried out between June 2020 and February 2021 involved patients aged over 16 with COVID-19 pneumonia either being treated on a ward or Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at nine hospitals across the UK.

The study involved 54 patients receiving ‘usual care’ — treatment with steroids and oxygen or ventilation — and 57 patients given usual care as well as a single intravenous dose of 150mg of namilumab.

Compared to usual care alone, the researchers found that there was a 97 per cent probability of CRP being reduced over time in those given namilumab when compared with usual care alone.

The patients were monitored, and after 28 days the study also showed there were fewer deaths and more discharges from hospital or ICU in those who had been given namilumab compared to those receiving usual care alone.

By day 28, 78 per cent of the patients receiving namilumab were discharged from hospital or ICU, compared to 61 per cent given usual care.

It is important, therefore, that namilumab is now prioritised for further COVID-19 research in a much larger phase 3 clinical trial, they added.