Efficacy of Tocilizumab in Severely Ill COVID-19 Patients With Rapid Respiratory Deterioration: A Single Center Experience During the Third Pandemic Wave in Greece

• Published in: In vivo (Athens) Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 1312 - 1317
• Main Authors: Rapti, Vasiliki, Livanou, Maria-Effrosyni, Kollias, Anastasios, Koutouratsas, Tilemachos, Savranakis, Orestis, Sakka, Vissaria, Nitsotolis, Thomas, Kakalou, Eleni, Athanasiou, Kalomoira, Syrigos, Konstantinos N, Poulakou, Garyfallia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Greece International Institute of Anticancer Research 01-05-2023
• Subjects: COVID-19; COVID-19 Drug Treatment; Greece - epidemiology; Humans; Pandemics; Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Greece; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; tocilizumab; mortality; intubation; Delta variant; IL-6R blockade; efficacy
• ISSN: 0258-851X; 1791-7549
• DOI: 10.21873/invivo.13210

Immunomodulatory therapy with Tocilizumab (TCZ), a monoclonal antibody against interleukin-6 receptor-alpha, has been endorsed by the World Health Organization and other major regulatory bodies, as part of the standard-of-care therapy for severe or critical COVID-19 cases despite discordant trial outcomes. The aim of the present study was to report the experience of our center regarding TCZ routine use in severely ill COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized during the third pandemic wave in Greece.
From March 2021 to December 2021, we retrospectively analyzed COVID-19 patients with radiological findings of pneumonia and signs of rapid respiratory deterioration that were treated with TCZ. The primary outcome included the risk of intubation or/and death in TCZ-treated patients compared to matched controls.
TCZ administration was neither predictive of intubation and/or death [OR=17.5 (95% CI=0.47-652.2; p=0.12)] or associated with fewer events (p=0.92) in multivariate analysis.
Our single-center real-life experience is in line with recently published research, revealing no benefit from TCZ routine use in severely or critically ill patients with COVID-19.