Bengal government recommends rheumatoid arthritis drug to fight Covid-19

KOLKATA: Bengal government’s health treatment protocol has recommended to re-purpose Tocilizumab, a drug traditionally used in the treatment of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, to treat severe Covid cases. The protocol spells out the specific conditions, when this medicine can be administered as well as the dosage.
According to reports, clinical trials for the administration of this drug on Covid patients have begun in several cities in India. This took place after the Task Force for Repurposing of Drug (TFORD) for Covid-19, constituted by the Centre, marked it to be the most ready and potential in the fight against the disease, doctors said.

According to pharmacologists, Tocilizumab is a drug largely used in the treatment of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. A proven drug for rheumatoid arthritis, researchers said it was still in Phase-II clinical trial for therapeutic use on Covid patients, that has shown benefits. “So far, the drug seems effective in reducing mortality in severe cases of Covid infection,” said C M Hossain from the department of pharmaceutical technology at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT).
When a person is infected by Covid-19 virus, it affects the lung cells of patients and multiplies rapidly, breaking through these cells; it starts infecting other cells as well. “In severe cases of Covid-19, the virus is known to release certain chemicals, known as cytokine, mainly IL6, and causes cytokine release syndrome. This leads to massive damage of the viral cell as well as the host cell. Tocilizumab can block this IL6 release,” said Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, clinical director at Peerless Hospital.
Doctors feel it’s important to hold randomized clinic trial before being used for treating Covid patients. This being an immunosuppressive drug, it should be administered only after thoroughly weighing the risks and benefits of its use and only in cases that showed strong indications that it was required, said a doctor. “The side effects could be severe flaring up of latent TB, of opportunist bacterial and fungal infections, of UTI to lesser impact, like, headache, throat irritation and rashes,” Bhowmick said.
“It is an immune-altering drug. Its efficacy on Covid patients is yet to be understood fully,” said doctor Kuntal Biswas, in-charge of the central pharmacy at Medical College Hospital Kolkata. This is not an anti-viral drug. “It checks the exaggerated immune response of the body to the viral attack. The response, if severe, can go out of control and activate cytokines that can lead to inflammation in organs and even lead to multi-organ failure. This drug inhibits cytokine and prevents those reactions,” said Arindam Biswas, consultant at RTIICS.