Two arthritis medicines prove effective for covid-19

GOOD NEWS from covid-19 wards is hard to come by. A relentless surge in infections is overwhelming hospitals around the world. But the results from a clinical trial of two drugs, announced on January 7th, have improved the prognosis for both patients and hospitals.The drugs in question, tocilizumab and sarilumab, are currently used to reduce inflammation in patients with arthritis. Hyper-inflammation, whereby the immune system goes into overdrive and destroys a patient’s organs, is how covid-19 tends to kill. The search for suitable anti-inflammatory drugs to treat it has already turned up one, dexamethasone. This is a cheap steroid that dampens the immune system across the board. Tocilizumab and sarilumab, by contrast, are more focused. They are both antibodies that block the effect of interleukin-6, a protein that stokes the immune response and has been prominent in patients with covid-19.