There are rumors that tocilizumab can cure patients of the Covid-19 corona virus who are already critical. However, the effectiveness of this arthritis drug is disputed by US researchers.According to a recent study, a drug called tocilizumab has shown very promising results when it is used to treat Covid-19 patients who are already in critical condition in Italy.This claim is reinforced by the statements of researchers there, who stated that the arthritis drug had produced satisfactory results in two Covid-19 patients.
In fact, last March, a doctor from Pascale Hospital in Italy called on the government to use tocilizumab more frequently in treating Covid-19 patients.
What is tocilizumab?
Tocilizumab is included in the class of injection drugs that work as an interleukin-16 (IL-6) inhibitor. The body produces IL-6 when it becomes inflamed.
Tocilizumab works by inhibiting the effects of IL-6 in people with arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Apart from arthritis, the drug tocilizumab can be used to treat both polyarticular and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Tocilizumab has side effects, such as respiratory infections, headaches, high blood pressure (hypertension), and elevated liver enzymes. In fact, the use of this drug is often associated with the emergence of tuberculosis infection, sepsis (bacteria in the blood), and fungal infections.
Not only that, tocilizumab is considered not to be used by patients whose infection is still active because this drug is considered to cause new diseases of the nervous system.
Several studies have also shown that tocilizumab can cause decreased white blood cells, reactivation of shingles, and allergic reactions.
Apart from the benefits and side effects above, how does tocilizumab work in treating Covid-19?
Can Tocilizumab cure Covid-19 patients?
The drug tocilizumab is believed to reduce excessive and dangerous reactions to viruses that attack the immune system called cytokine storms.This cytokine storm not only spurs the patient's body to fight the corona virus, but also against the body's own cells and tissues. In the case of Covid-19, cytokine storms are believed to cause respiratory complications, even leading to death.
In China, researchers are trying to give tocilizumab to 20 Covid-19 patients. From that trial, about 19 patients managed to be discharged from the hospital in just 2 weeks. But unfortunately, the study was only conducted on a small scale. The experts also did not compare the drug tocilizumab with a placebo.
Likewise in Italy, where a study shows that tocilizumab can reduce deaths from Covid-19 by up to 39 percent. Unfortunately, this study is still retrospective and needs further studies.
Rebuttal by US researchers!!
Despite the many promising rumors about the drug tocilizumab in curing Covid-19 patients, researchers from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, United States state, there is no strong evidence that tocilizumab can cure Covid-19 patients who are already severe.
In a study that followed 132 patients, it was found that tocilizumab did not reduce mortality at all.
A giant Swiss drug company named Roche also admitted that the drug tocilizumab had no effect in treating Covid-19 patients who were already severe. In his study, it was found that tocilizumab failed in reducing the death rate and the severity of the corona virus.
So far, the BPOM of the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has also not approved the use of the drug tocilizumab in Covid-19 patients.
The Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) of the Republic of Indonesia also stated that the rumors of using tocilizumab, which is believed to be able to cure Covid-19 patients, are mere disinformation.
They think, the use of the drug tocilizumab is still not proven. Because, scientists in China and the United States are still trying to prove the effectiveness of these drugs.
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