Patients with COVID-19 who are admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are set to receive new life-saving treatments which could reduce hospital stays by up to 10 days, the government has announced.
Results from the government-funded REMAP-CAP clinical trial show that tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced the relative risk of death by 24 per cent, when administered to patients with COVID-19 within 24 hours of entering ICU.
Initial findings reported in November showed that tocilizumab was likely to improve outcomes among critically ill COVID-19 patients, but the impact on patient survival and length of time on organ support in ICU was not clear at that time.
Now, the latest analysis shows that tocilizumab and sarilumab have a significant impact on patient survival, reducing mortality by 8.5 per cent. However, these results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
REMAP-CAP co-author, Professor Anthony Gordon, Chair in Anaesthesia and Critical Care at Imperial College London, described the results as “a significant finding which could have immediate implications for the sickest patients with COVID-19”.
“We found that among critically ill adult patients - those receiving breathing support in intensive care - treatment with these drugs can improve their chances of survival and recovery,” he said. “At a time when hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 are soaring in the UK, it’s crucial we continue to identify effective treatments which can help to turn the tide against this disease.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said the results are “yet another landmark development in finding a way out of this pandemic”.
“I am hugely proud of the significant role our NHS and its patients have played in this international trial, and grateful to the outstanding scientists and clinicians behind REMAP-CAP who have brought this treatment to our patients,” he said.
Imminent updated guidance will advise NHS trusts to use tocilizumab in the treatment of COVID-19 patients who are admitted to ICU. The guidance is effective immediately.
The Department of Health and Social Care says it is working closely with the manufacturer of tocilizumab to ensure treatments continue to be available to UK patients.
