The World Health Organization is launching Solidarity PLUS — the second phase of the so-called Solidarity trial for COVID-19 treatments — to test three additional candidate drugs for patients with the disease.
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The drugs are artesunate, a derivative of artemisinin used for malaria; imatinib, a cancer drug taken orally; and infliximab, a monoclonal antibody used to treat autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease.
An independent expert panel selected the candidates for their potential to reduce mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Ipca Laboratories, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson donated the drugs for the trial, which will involve over 600 hospitals across 52 countries. Countries need to first approve them, and import permits will be needed to ship them. WHO said at least 10 to 15 countries have already received the drugs or are awaiting their shipments.
The Solidarity trial previously evaluated remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon drug regimens, but preliminary results showed they had little or no effect on hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Final results are expected in September.
There are multiple COVID-19 treatments currently in use, but so far only a small number have shown some benefit in reducing mortality among hospitalized patients.
The RECOVERY Trial in the U.K. found that dexamethasone, an inexpensive and widely available anti-inflammatory drug, could reduce the risk of death for people hospitalized with COVID-19. But the benefit is limited to patients with severe complications who require oxygen or ventilator support.
Interleukin-6 blockers tocilizumab and sarilumab were also found to be helpful in reducing deaths among severely or critically ill COVID-19 patients. The drugs reduced patients’ risk of death by 13% and their need for mechanical ventilation by 28%, according to WHO. However, they are expensive, rendering them inaccessible to many.
But in July, Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche said it is suspending its patent rights for tocilizumab in low- and middle-income countries during the pandemic.
“We already have many tools to prevent, test for, and treat COVID-19, including oxygen, dexamethasone and IL-6 blockers, but we need more for patients at all ends of the clinical spectrum, from mild to severe disease, and we need health workers that are trained to use them in a safe environment,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press briefing Wednesday.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
