Bristol Myers, J&J drugs reduce COVID death rates in NIH study

[June 03, 2022]  (Reuters) -A late-stage study of two rheumatoid arthritis drugs from Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson showed a significant drop in deaths among hospitalized COVID patients, a U.S. health agency said on Thursday.

However, both the drugs failed to meet the main goal of speeding up recovery compared with a placebo, the study of nearly 2,000 patients by National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed.

Those who received J&J's Remicade had 40.5% lower adjusted odds of dying than the placebo group, while those on Bristol Myers' Orencia had 37.4%.

"When given in addition to standard-of-care treatments, like remdesivir and dexamethasone, infliximab (Remicade) and abatacept (Orencia) each offered a substantial reduction in mortality," said the trial's protocol chair, William Powderly.

Both groups of patients also had substantially better odds of clinical improvement than those on placebo, the study showed.

A woman holds test tube in front of displayed Bristol Myers Squibb logo in this illustration taken, May 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Started in October 2020, the study was part of a public-private partnership for coordinated research on promising treatments and vaccines against COVID-19. (https://reut.rs/3aDOHLZ)

The trial was testing the two drugs, along with AbbVie's experimental candidate cenicriviroc, to treat an overactive immune response called "cytokine storm" seen in certain patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19.

Enrollment for the cenicriviroc group was stopped in September last year due to lack of efficacy.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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