WHO recommends new drugs for the treatment of patients with COVID-19

The drug baricitinib (a type of drug like the Janus kinase inhibitor [JAK] used to treat rheumatoid arthritis), according to the WHO, is recommended for use in critically ill and critically ill patients, in combination with corticosteroids, which are potent anti-inflammatory drugs and strengthen the immune response.

The WHO said the recommendation is based on data suggesting it improves the chances of survival and reduces the need for patients to be ventilated and has not been found to cause side effects.

WHO experts say that baricitinib has similar effects to other arthritis medications, IL-6 (anti-inflammatory drugs) inhibitors, so if these two medications are available, the organization recommends that patients choose one of them. “Based on cost, availability and doctor’s recommendation”. However, it is not recommended that these two medications be taken at the same time.

The recommendation for the use of these drugs was made from new data from seven studies involving 4,000 patients with COVID-19 with mild, severe, and critical infections.

In updating the guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19, WHO experts have recommended against the use of both drugs ruxolitinib and tofacitinib for patients with severely ill or critically ill COVID-19, as studies have not found that patients can have benefits from them and there is a risk of severe side effects.

Also, in this new guide, the WHO has made a conditional recommendation for the use of the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab in patients who have not developed severe coronavirus disease and this type of treatment can only be used in people at high risk of hospitalization, because as the WHO said, patients who are not in serious condition do not have great benefits from this treatment.

A similar recommendation has been made for the other monoclonal antibody drug (casirivimab-imdevimab), as experts assess that there is still no data to recommend this type of treatment and that their effectiveness against newer variants, such as Omicron, is still unclear”.

The drugs recommended today are added to the list of treatments for COVID-19 which includes the use of blocking receptors and systemic corticosteroids for critically ill and critically ill patients. The WHO has also previously recommended the conditional use of casirivimab-imdevimab monoclonal antibody therapy in certain patients.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in late 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University data over 319 million cases and over 5.5 million deaths have been registered worldwide.rel

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