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A drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis may reduce the risk of death for elderly patients with Covid-19 and provide a new weapon in the arsenal against the new coronavirus, according to a study.
In the research, published in the journal Science Advances, 83 patients with an average age of 81 and all with moderate to severe Covid-19 infection were given a drug called baricitinib.
This drug was initially identified by scientists at Imperial College London in the UK using artificial intelligence (AI) as a drug that could have antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects.
In the study, the patients, who were in multiple hospitals in Italy and Spain, had a 71% reduced risk of death compared to patients who had not taken the drug.
The study found that 17% of patients who were given the drug died or needed a ventilator, compared with 35% in the control group who were not given the drug.
The research team says the findings were followed by large-scale clinical trials.
“We urgently need to find more effective treatments for Covid-19 as we wait for a vaccine to become widely available,” said Professor Justin Stebbing, co-lead author of the study from Imperial College London.
“This is one of the first Covid-19 treatments to move from the computer to the clinic and laboratory. It was first identified by an AI algorithm in February, which scanned thousands of potential drugs that could work against this virus, “Stebbing said.
The study suggests that this drug may aid the recovery of patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 and may provide a new weapon in the arsenal against the virus, the researchers said.
The team has grown miniature human organs in the lab, called organoids, to investigate how exactly the drug can fight Covid-19.
The results revealed that the drug can help work in two ways: reducing the damage to organs caused by inflammation and blocking the virus from entering human cells.
When infected with the Covid-19 virus, called SARS-CoV-2, the body releases several types of inflammatory molecules, called chemokines and cytokines.
These molecules act as the early warning system for the body, telling the immune system that the body is under attack.
However, in the case of Covid-19, particular cytokines and chemokines, including those called interleukins and interferons, cause this warning system to spiral out of control and trigger a so-called cytokine storm.
This cytokine storm not only causes significant damage to the body’s organs, but the study revealed that it also helps the virus access human cells.
The study showed that a particular cytokine, called interferon, increases the number of receptors, or docking points, for the virus.
Doing so, in effect, lowers the drawbridge and lets the virus enter the body’s cells, the researchers said.
They revealed that the drug blocks this process and thus increases survival from Covid-19.
The study also suggested that Covid-19 increases the activity of platelet-related genes, which can make blood sticky and more likely to form clots. The drug baricitinib has been shown to reduce the activity of genes.
“This study confirms what the AI had predicted and what we were hearing from the patients’ clinical cases. For example, one case involved a seriously ill 87-year-old patient from Foggia, Italy, who showed rapid improvement after receiving the drug while her husband and son, who did not receive baricitinib, died, ”said Professor Volker Lauschke, co-principal author of the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
“This study also highlighted how exactly this drug can protect us on a cellular level. This helps us understand why other types of drugs are proving useful or not beneficial, as we help identify other treatments that can address Covid-19, “Lauschke said.
(This story was published by a branch agency with no text changes.)
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