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Research Paper|Volume 12, Issue 19|pp 18878—18888

Efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in COVID-19 patients

Kai-Lian Zheng1,2, Ying Xu3, Yu-Feng Guo2,4, Le Diao5, Xiang-Yu Kong2,6, Xiao-Jian Wan2,7, Feng Zhao2,8, Fang-Zheng Ning1, Li-Bing Wang2,9, Fan Qiao2,10, Jiang-Man Zhao5, Jia-Huan Zhou5, Yue-Qian Zhong5, Shou-Xin Wu5, Yi Chen2,11, Gang Jin1, Yu-Chao Dong2,12
  • 1Department of General Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 2Huoshenshan Hospital, Wuhan 430100, Hubei, China
  • 3Department of Gastroenterology, Hankou Hospital, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China
  • 4Office of Medical Education, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 5Shanghai Zhangjiang Institute of Medical Innovation, Shanghai Biotecan Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201204, China
  • 6Department of Gastroenterology, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 7Faculty of Anesthesiology, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 8Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 9Department of Hematology, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 10Department of Cardiac Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 11Department of infectious diseases, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 12Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Department, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
* Equal contribution
Received: May 27, 2020Accepted: August 14, 2020Published: October 8, 2020

Copyright: © 2020 Zheng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

In this retrospective study we assessed the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in patients with critical or severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We enrolled 181 patients admitted to Huoshenshan Hospital (Wuhan, China) with confirmed COVID-19 between January 2020 and February 2020. Ninety-two patients were treated with tocilizumab, and 89 patients were treated conventionally. We analyzed the clinical manifestations, changes in CT scan images, and laboratory tests before and after tocilizumab treatment, and compared these results with the conventionally treated group. A significant reduction in the level of C-reactive protein was observed 1 week after tocilizumab administration. In some cases this meant the end of the IL-6-related cytokine storm. In addition, tocilizumab relieved fever, cough, and shortness of breath with no reported adverse drug reactions. These findings suggest tocilizumab improves clinical outcomes and is effective for treatment of patients with critical or severe COVID-19. However, future clinical trials are needed to better understand the impact of tocilizumab interference with IL-6 and provide a therapeutic strategy for treatment of COVID-19.