NEJM: Remdesivir Combination Therapy Is Superior To Monotherapy

1. Huateng Pharma https://en.huatengsci.com NEJM: Remdesivir Combination Therapy Is Superior To Monotherapy Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial ACTT-2 of the antiviral drug remdesivir and the anti-inflammatory drug Baricitinib in the treatment of COVID-19. This combination therapy can shorten the recovery time of COVID-19 hospitalized patients. The ACTT-2 trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), aims to evaluate the treatment of COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Remdesivir was developed by Gilead Sciences and has been approved to treat COVID-19 in the United States and the European Union. Baricitinib is a JAK1 inhibitor that suppresses the immune response of patients. It was jointly developed by Eli Lilly and Incyte. It has been approved in more than 70 countries worldwide for the treatment of moderate to severe activity adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The ACTT-2 trial started on May 8, 2020, with 1,033 subjects enrolled in research centers in 8 countries. The subjects were randomly divided into groups to receive remdesivir (≤10 days) and oral Baricitinib tablets (≤14 days), or remdesivir and oral placebo tablets. The results of the study showed that, compared with the monotherapy remdesivir, the combination therapy of remdesivir and baricitinib shortened the median recovery time of COVID-19 hospitalized patients from 8 days to 7 days, and the recovery of patients was significantly accelerated by 16%. At 15 days, the probability of clinical improvement of patients in the combination therapy group was also 30% higher. Patients who require high-flow oxygen supplementation or non-invasive mechanical

2. Huateng Pharma https://en.huatengsci.com ventilation during hospitalization benefit the most from the combination therapy. Their median recovery time has been shortened from 18 days (monotherapy) to 10 days, and patient recovery has been significantly accelerated by 51%. Cumulative recovery rate of patients in the combination therapy group and the remdesivir monotherapy group. A: Overall B: Baseline ordinal score of 4, no need oxygen; C: Baseline ordinal score of 5, need oxygen; D: Baseline ordinal score of 6, need to supplement high-flow oxygen or non-invasive mechanical ventilation;

3. Huateng Pharma https://en.huatengsci.com E: Baseline ordinal score of 7, received mechanical ventilation or ECMO. (Image source: Reference [1]) The 28-day mortality rate of patients in the combination therapy group and single-agent therapy group was 5.1% and 7.8%, respectively. There was no significant difference, but the combination therapy showed a trend of reducing the risk of death by 35%. Patients in the combination therapy group had fewer serious adverse events (16.0% vs 21.0%) and fewer new infections (5.9% vs 11.2%). The researchers also pointed out that in the absence of other targeted studies, it is currently difficult to compare this combination treatment plan with other treatment plans. However, these results suggest that the combination therapy of remdesivir and baricitinib is superior to the monotherapy of remdesivir, which is worthy of further clinical research. Huateng Pharma, a professional manufacturer committed to developing & producing PEG Derivatives, VD Derivatives, Organotin compounds, Pyrimidines compounds and many kinds of pharmaceutical intermediates. We supply several kinds of anti-viral intermediates such as oseltamivir intermediates, remdesivir intermediates, favipiravir impurities and baloxavir marboxil intermediates, etc. Reference: [1] Andre C. Kalil, et al., (2020). Baricitinib plus Remdesivir for Hospitalized Adults with Covid-19. N Engl J Med, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2031994 [2] Baricitinib plus Remdesivir shows promise for treating COVID-19. Retrieved December 15, 2020, from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/nioa-bpr121120.php