Baricitinib
It seems more incremental than blockbuster. I don’t think it’s a game changer - Dr. Taison Bell
image by: Fernanda Bardan
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Doctors Are Skeptical of Pricey Drug Given Emergency Approval for Covid
In mid-November, an arthritis drug with a tricky name hit a pandemic milestone — then slipped back into relative obscurity.
The drug, baricitinib, was granted an emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration to treat a subset of hospitalized Covid-19 patients in combination with another medication, the antiviral remdesivir. It is one of only a handful of treatments to have earned the agency’s green light.
But baricitinib’s reception by the medical community has been lukewarm. It doesn’t work all that well, for one thing, and comes with side effects, such as blood clots. And at a cost of roughly $1,500 per patient, many doctors don’t know when it would make…
Resources
Baricitinib for Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19
Baricitinib, a Janus-associated kinase (JAK) inhibitor, reduces mortality and may reduce progression to mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 patients, with no increase in serious adverse events.
Drug vignettes: Baricitinib
Severe COVID-19 is characterized by lung damage, which can be associated with very high concentrations of circulating cytokines (cytokine storm), including interleukin-6 (IL-6). Baricitinib modulates the production of cytokines, and has therefore been suggested as a possible treatment for severe COVID-19.
Efficacy and safety of baricitinib for the treatment of hospitalised adults with COVID-19...
Although there was no significant reduction in the frequency of disease progression overall, treatment with baricitinib in addition to standard of care (including dexamethasone) had a similar safety profile to that of standard of care alone, and was associated with reduced mortality in hospitalised adults with COVID-19.
Lilly’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Shortens Covid-19 Hospitalization When Combined With Antiviral Med
Eli Lilly and Company announced Monday morning that a study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of hospitalized Covid-19 patients found that its rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib, in combination with Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir, reduces the median hospital stay of patients by one day compared to treatment with remdesivir alone.
Use of Baricitinib in Treatment of COVID-19: A Systematic Review
Baricitinib significantly improves clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and further evidence may establish the drug as a standard treatment among such patients.
WHO recommends two new drugs to treat COVID-19
WHO has recommended two new drugs for COVID-19, providing yet more options for treating the disease. The extent to which these medicines will save lives depends on how widely available and affordable they will be. The first drug, baricitinib, is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical COVID-19. It is part of a class of drugs called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors that suppress the overstimulation of the immune system. WHO recommends that it is given with corticosteroids.
Doctors Are Skeptical of Pricey Drug Given Emergency Approval for Covid
“I think it’s really a nothing burger,” said Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an infectious disease physician at the University of Alberta. “We’re talking about adding a drug that reduces the time to clinical improvement by one day, in a disease that takes weeks to recover.”
Olumiant
Olumiant is a prescription medicine called a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor used to treat adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis after treatment with 1 or more medicines called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers have been used, and did not work well enough or could not be tolerated.
NIH
Immunosuppression induced by JAK inhibitors could potentially reduce the inflammation and associated immunopathologies observed in patients with COVID-19.
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