A separate Sanofi-led trial of Kevzara outside of the US in hospitalised patients with severe and critical COVID-19 using a different dosing regimen is ongoing
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi said their rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara failed to meet the main goals of a US study testing it in the most critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Previous trial results had shown that the drug did not help patients with less severe COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Kevzara belongs to a class of drugs called interleukin-6 inhibitors that are being tried to help regulate a dangerous overreaction to the virus by the body’s immune system called ‘cytokine storm.’
Other drugs in the same class, including Roche Holding’s Actemra, are also being studied as treatments for COVID-19.
A separate Sanofi-led trial of Kevzara outside of the US in hospitalised patients with severe and critical COVID-19 using a different dosing regimen is ongoing, the companies said.
Patients who required mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen therapy or treatment in an intensive care unit were considered critically ill. Those who required oxygen without mechanical or high-flow oxygenation were considered severely ill.