By Brianna Abbott 

Roche Holding AG is supplying its arthritis drug Actemra to doctors on the front lines fighting the new coronavirus, Alexander Hardy, chief executive of Roche's Genentech business, said during The Wall Street Journal Health Forum held remotely by videoconference on Tuesday.

Actemra isn't approved to treat the new coronavirus. Yet there are signs it might work, and Roche has said it would start testing the drug to see if it works against the virus.

The Actemra coronavirus trial will start enrolling patients in early April and will collect data in real-time. "What we're really missing is a clear level of evidence to really inform what the correct role of Actemra is in treating the disease in its most serious stage," Mr. Hardy said.

While the trial evaluates whether the drug works against the virus, the company provided 10,000 vials of the drug to the Strategic National Stockpile so that U.S. doctors can start using the drug, Mr. Hardy said.

Companies and health authorities across the globe are racing to discern whether any drugs on the market might also work to fight off Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel virus.

Researchers and companies are trying not to rush into widespread use of any particular drug without first making sure the benefits outweigh any potential risks. Yet the urgency of the coronavirus threat has prompted some doctors to repurpose medicines.

The push to evaluate and supply Actemra follows recent reports from China that point to the potential benefit of the drug, which had been used on roughly 400 patients in China and more in Italy, Mr. Hardy said.

A study of the drug on Covid-19 recently began at the First People's Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, according to a Genentech spokesperson.

Anecdotal evidence from New York also supports its use, Mr. Hardy said.

The arthritis drug works to suppress the overreaction of a person's immune system by blocking proteins called interleukin-6, or IL-6, which trigger the body's inflammatory response.

Researchers believe that the overreaction of the immune system might be causing the most severe damage to Covid-19 patients and that drugs that put the brakes on this response might ease some of the most severe symptoms.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and partner Sanofi SA are testing another rheumatoid arthritis therapy, named Kevzara, to see if it fights the coronavirus.

Write to Brianna Abbott at brianna.abbott@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2020 14:04 ET (18:04 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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