Fda Authorizes Drug Actemra For Hospitalized Covid Patients

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued late Thursday an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the drug Actemra (tocilizumab) for the treatment of hospitalized adults and pediatric patients (two years and older) “who are receiving systemic corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen.

The FDA said in a statement “clinical trials of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, Actemra in addition to the routine care patients receive for treatment of COVID-19, which included corticosteroid therapy, was shown to reduce the risk of death through 28 days of follow-up and decrease the amount of time patients remained hospitalized.” It added “the risk of patients being placed on ventilators or death through 28 days of follow-up was also decreased,” noting Actemra is “not authorized for use in outpatients with COVID-19.” “Today’s action demonstrates the FDA’s commitment to making new therapies available through every stage of the global COVID-19 pandemic,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. She stressed “although vaccines have been successful in decreasing the number of patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization, providing additional therapies for those who do become hospitalized is an important step in combating this pandemic.

 

SOURCE : TIMES KUWAIT

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