Sarilumab

IL-6 receptor antagonists and antiplatelet agents improved chances for 6-month survival among patients with COVID-19, according to study results presented at Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Critical Care Congress and published in JAMA.

PHILADELPHIA — Patients with steroid-resistant polymyalgia rheumatica who received sarilumab and tapered glucocorticoids achieved higher remission rates vs. glucocorticoid taper alone, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2022.

A model using machine learning was able to ascertain a simple selection rule to identify which patients with rheumatoid arthritis would benefit most from sarilumab, according to a speaker at the 2020 ACR Convergence Annual Meeting.

Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and high baseline interleukin-6, sarilumab was associated with better improvements in physical function and morning stiffness compared with adalimumab, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Sanofi announced that its IL-6 inhibitor Kevzara failed to meet primary and secondary endpoints in a phase 3 trial of patients outside the United States hospitalized with severe COVID-19.

Although sarilumab fared no better than the standard of care regarding clinical improvement and mortality among patients with severe COVID-19, the drug was linked to faster recovery among patients with minor lung consolidation.