NEW DELHI

In a relief to health systems around the world which are buckling under the recent rapid spread of the coronavirus, scientists have found that two drugs used to fight arthritis cut the risk of death from Covid-19.

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Findings have shown that tocilizumab and sarilumab – both IL-6 receptor antagonists – have a significant impact on COVID-19 patient survival, reducing mortality by 8.5 percent.

Treating critically ill coronavirus patients with these two arthritis drugs significantly improves survival rates and reduces the amount of time patients need intensive care.

That would mean that for every 12 patients treated with one of the two drugs, an extra life would be saved, said Anthony Gordon, an Imperial College London professor of anaesthesia and critical care who co-led the study.

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The data will boost confidence that some existing drugs could be repurposed to help with the pandemic that has killed more than 1.87 million people and crushed global economies.

It also comes as countries struggle to contain two variants of the virus found in South Africa and Britain that are more transmissible and have driven a surge in infections.

The data, from around 800 severely ill COVID-19 patients involved in an international study known as the REMAP-CAP trial showed that the two drugs reduced mortality rates from 35.8% in a control group to 27.3% among patients receiving either tocilizumab or sarilumab.

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The results also showed that on average, patients treated with Actemra or Kevzara recovered more swiftly and were able to be discharged from intensive care units around seven to 10 days earlier than those who did not get these drugs.

(With inputs from agencies)