Additional baricitinib loading dose improves clinical outcome in COVID-19

06, October 2020 |

Authors:

Abstract

Pneumonia associated with coronavirus dis- ease 2019 (COVID-19) has been accounted for high mor- tality rate in severe COVID-19 worldwide, and additional serious scarcity of standard and effective anti-inflamma- tory drug in COVID-19 pneumonia management is a big challenge. Baricitinib, a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, is a promising drug in COVID-19 pneumonia. This study aims to compare the clinical outcome of moderate-to-severe COVID-19 pneumonia treated with baricitinib with or without a loading dose. This prospective case-control study enrolled 37 adult patients where 17 patients (con- trol) received baricitinib at 4 mg oral daily dose and 20 patients (case) received an additional single 8 mg oral loading dose. The median day to gain blood oxygen saturation level ≥95% (in room air) and return in normal breathing function were lower in case group than the control group. The requirement of intensive care unit and mechan- ical ventilation support was higher in the control group than in the case group [29.4% (N = 17)/10% (N = 20), P < 0.05; 11.8% (N = 17)/5% (N = 20), P > 0.05), respectively]. Thus, an additional loading dose of baricitinib revealed better clinical outcome of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.