What You Need to Know About COVID-19 & Therapies for Rheumatic Diseases

Finally, Dr. Saw summarized the COV-BARRIER study, a phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of hospitalized adults with COVID-19 receiving standard of care who were randomly assigned to receive once-daily baricitinib or matched placebo for up to 14 days. The primary end point was a composite of proportion of patients progressing to high-flow oxygen, non-invasive ventilation, invasive mechanical ventilation, or death by day 28, as assessed in the intention-to-treat population. In this study, no significant reduction in the frequency of disease progression overall was seen. However, treatment with baricitinib plus standard of care (including dexamethasone) was associated with reduced mortality, with one additional death prevented per 20 baricitinib-treated participants.⁵

In Sum

Overall, the session was enlightening on a number of COVID-related topics and helped present the state of the art on this theme. There will undoubtedly be much more to learn about this subject in coming years, but for now this session helped show clinicians around the country and the world what they need to know to best care for their patients with rheumatic disease in the setting of COVID-19.

Dr. Jason Liebowitz

Jason Liebowitz, MD, completed his fellowship in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where he also earned his medical degree. He is currently in practice with Skylands Medical Group, N.J.

References

1. Curtis JR, Johnson SR, Anthony DD, et al. American College of Rheumatology guidance for COVID-19 vaccination in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: Version 4. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2022 May;74(5):e21–e36.
2. COVID-19 drug interactions. University of Liverpool. 2022.
3. REMAP-CAP investigators, Gordon AC, Mouncey PR, et al. Interleukin-6 receptor antagonists in critically ill patients with COVID-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Apr 22;384(16):1491–1502.
4. RECOVERY Collaborative Group, Horby P, Lim WS, et al. Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Feb 25;384(8):693–704.
5. Marconi VC, Ramanan AV, de Bono S, et al. Efficacy and safety of baricitinib for the treatment of hospitalised adults with COVID-19 (COV-BARRIER): A randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial Lancet Respir Med. 2021 Dec;9(12):1407–1418.