Pfizer’s Drug Helps COVID-19 Patients Hospitalized with Pneumonia

June 17, 2021 - New data showed that Pfizer’s tofacitinib elicited a lower cumulative incidence of death or respiratory failure through day 28 compared to placebo in COVID-19 patients hospitalized with pneumonia. 

The trial data, published by the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 18.1 percent of patients who received tofacitinib experienced low cumulative incidence of death or respiratory failure, compared to 29 percent of patients who received placebo. 

The multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled STOP-COVID study evaluated tofacitinib, an oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, in 289 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pneumonia who were not on ventilation. 

Patients received either 10 milligrams of tofacitinib twice daily plus standard of care or placebo twice daily plus standard of care for up to 14 days or until hospital discharge. 

Overall, 89.3 percent of patients used glucocorticoids during hospitalization, predominantly dexamethasone.

“We are encouraged by the initial findings of our randomized trial of tofacitinib in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia. These results provide new information which indicates that the use of tofacitinib when added to standard of care, which includes glucocorticoids, may further reduce the risk of death or respiratory failure in this patient population,” Otavio Berwanger, MD, PhD, director of the academic research organization at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. 

“The study builds on the hypothesis that JAK inhibition could mitigate systemic and alveolar inflammation in patients with COVID-19-related pneumonia,” Berwanger continued. 

Death from any cause through day 28 occurred in 2.8 percent of patients in the tofacitinib group and 12 percent of patients in the placebo group. Deep vein thrombosis, acute myocardial infarction, ventricular tachycardia, and myocarditis occurred more often in the tofacitinib group.

Hemorrhagic stroke and cardiogenic shock occurred in one patient each in the placebo group. Incidence of serious infection was 3.5 percent in the tofacitinib group and 4.2 percent in the placebo group.

US Purchases Additional 200M Doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine 

Moderna recently announced that the government has purchased an additional 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Under the agreement, the US has the option to purchase other COVID-19 vaccine candidates from the company’s pipeline. 

The additional purchase brings the US government’s confirmed order commitment to 500 million doses, including 110 million doses expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 90 million expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022. 

So far, Moderna has supplied 217 million doses of its vaccine to the government.

“We appreciate the collaboration with the U.S government for these additional doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which could be used for primary vaccination, including of children, or possibly as a booster if that becomes necessary to continue to defeat the pandemic,” Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, said in the announcement. 

“We remain focused on being proactive as the virus evolves by leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform to stay ahead of emerging variants,” Bancel continued. 

In May, Moderna increased global 2022 capacity for its COVID-19 vaccine to up to 3 billion doses, boosting production at its owned and partnered manufacturing facilities.

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine 92% Effective Against Delta Variant 

AstraZeneca recently announced that its COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective against the Delta variant, B.1.617.2. 

The data, published as a pre-print from Public Health England (PHE), found that two doses of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca was 92 percent effective against patients hospitalized with the Delta variant and showed no deaths among those vaccinated.

Additionally, the vaccine was effective against the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7, with an 86 percent reduction of hospitalizations and no deaths reported. 

In the analysis, researchers evaluated 14,019 cases of the Delta variant between April and June 2020, of which 122 patients were hospitalized with B.1.617.2.

Currently, the Delta variant is a key contributor to India’s current wave of infection. It has recently replaced the Alpha variant as the dominant strain in Scotland and is responsible for an increase in cases in the UK.