Tocilizumab and Sarilumab two drugs used in the United Kingdom reduce mortality from COVID-19

Two drugs used in the UK that reduce mortality in severely COVID-19 patients.

UK specialists managed to identify at least two life-saving drugs for critically ill patients in intensive care.

Two medicines capable of reducing deaths among the sickest patients from covid-19 by a quarter.

What are the medications?

These are two drip anti-inflammatory drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab, which save one life for every 12 people who receive the treatment, say researchers who have carried out a test in the intensive care units of the National Health Service of the United Kingdom. Kingdom (NHS).

Experts say the supplies are already available across the UK, so they can be used immediately to save hundreds of lives.

There are more than 30,000 COVID-19 patients in UK hospitals, 39% more than in April.

In addition to saving more lives, the treatments accelerate the recovery of patients and reduce the time critically ill patients spend in intensive care by about a week.

They work in support of dexamethasone.

Both seem to work equally well, and their favorable effect is in addition to that already achieved with a cheap steroid drug called dexamethasone.

They are relatively expensive.

Although the drugs are not cheap – they cost between US $ 1,000 and US $ 1,350 per patient – experts point out that the advantage of using them is clear and they emphasize that their price is lower than the cost per day of an intensive care bed, of around of US $ 2,700.

“For every 12 patients you treat with these drugs, you would hope to save a life. It’s a great effect,” says Professor Anthony Gordon, Principal Investigator at Imperial College London.

In the REMAP-CAP trial conducted in six different countries, including the United Kingdom, with around 800 intensive care patients:

Almost 36% of intensive care covid-19 patients who received standard care died
The new drugs cut that number by a quarter to 27% when administered within 24 hours after patients were admitted to intensive care.

“The fact that there is now another drug that can help reduce the mortality of Covid-19 patients is very welcome news and another positive development in the ongoing fight against the virus,” said Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director. of the NHS.

References, BBC; rheumatology.org and