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Paris (AFP) – The World Health Organization (WHO) officially recommended this Friday, January 14, two new treatments against Covid-19 in very precise cases, bringing the total of these drugs to five.
In a report published in the medical journal ‘The BMJ’, WHO experts recommend a treatment based on synthetic antibodies, the Sotrovimab, and a drug generally used against rheumatoid arthritis, the Baricitinib.
But these medicines are not intended for any patient.
Sotrovimab is recommended for patients who contracted Covid-19 without seriousness but with a high risk of hospitalization. Its benefit in patients who are not at risk is too low.
As for Baricitinib, it is recommended for “patients suffering from severe or critical covid”, and this medicine must be administered “combined with corticosteroids”.
In those patients, that “improves the survival rate and reduces the need for mechanical ventilation.”
Until now, the WHO recommended three treatments: synthetic antibodies sold under the name “Ronapreve”, since September 2021; a class of drugs called “interleukin 6 antagonists” (Tocilizumab and Sarilumab), since July 2021; and systematic corticosteroids for seriously ill patients, since September 2020.
Sotrovimab affects the same type of patients as Ronapreve. “Its effectiveness against new variants such as Ómicron is still uncertain,” the WHO experts clarified, however.
Likewise, Baricitinib “has the same effects” as interleukin 6 antagonists and should be administered to the same type of patient.
“When both are available” it is necessary to choose which of the two to use “based on cost, availability and the experience of health professionals,” said the WHO experts.
Baricitinib belongs to a family of drugs called “Janus kinase inhibitors” and is used against rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease.
However, the other drugs in this family (Ruxolitinib and Tofacitinib) should not be used against covid, the specialists considered, due to a lack of data on their efficacy or side effects.
The WHO regularly updates its recommendations for treatments against covid, based on clinical trials carried out with different types of patients.
However, the therapeutic arsenal continues to be reduced. In recent months, the WHO has rejected the use of various treatments: the injection of plasma from patients cured of Covid-19, Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine.
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