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Novartis’ arthritis therapy shows no efficacy in hospitalised COVID-19 patients

pharmafile | November 6, 2020 | News story | Medical Communications, Research and Development COVID-19, Novatis, canakinumab 

Novartis has revealed that its arthritis drug, theinterleukin-1 beta inhibitor canakinumab, in combination with standard of care (SoC), failed to meet its main goal in the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and cytokine release syndrome (CRS).

The data revealed that Novartis’ therapy plus SoC did not improve overall survival over placebo plus SoC without patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation up to 29 days following treatment; 88% of patients receiving canakinumab plus SoC survived without intervention compared to 85.7% with placebo plus SoC.

In a double blow, the drug also failed to meet its secondary goal of reducing the rate of COVID-19-related mortality for the first four weeks following initial treatment; rates were 4.9% in the canakinumab group compared to 7.2% in the placebo group.

“Though the CAN-COVID trial did not show the patient benefit we were hoping for, it helps improve the scientific understanding of COVID-19 and the role of interleukin-1β inhibition,” remarked Dr John Tsai, Head of Global Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer at Novartis. “There’s still an urgent need for effective ways to combat COVID-19 and we will continue to apply our best scientific minds in support of the global pandemic response, including a Phase 3 trial of ruxolitinib. We’re deeply grateful to the patients who participated and their caregivers, as well as the healthcare professionals and hospital staff who made this research possible while fighting the pandemic on the front line.”

Canakinumab, an 11-year-old drug, generated $671 million in sales for Novartis last year.

Matt Fellows

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