October 20, 2020

Effect of Tocilizumab vs Usual Care in Adults Hospitalized With COVID-19 and Moderate or Severe Pneumonia

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): treatment

• A randomized, open-label trial of patients with COVID-19 and pneumonia who required oxygen support but were not admitted to ICU found no statistically significant difference in mortality over 28 days between those receiving the immunomodulator tocilizumab (TCZ) (n=63) and those receiving standard of care (n=67). At day 14, the proportion of patients with noninvasive ventilation, intubation or death was observed in 24% in the TCZ group vs 36% in the standard care group (posterior median HR=0.58; 90% Credibility Interval 0.33 to 1.00), suggesting a potential benefit. By day 28, there was no difference in death between the groups (aHR=0.92; 95%CI 0.33-2.53).

Hermine et al. (Oct 20, 2020). Effect of Tocilizumab vs Usual Care in Adults Hospitalized With COVID-19 and Moderate or Severe Pneumonia. JAMA Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.6820