Nat Commun: Anti-cancer drugs help treat severely ill patients with COVID19

February 7, 2021 /--- According to a small clinical study conducted in Italy and China between February and April 2020 by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the use of the anti-cancer drug beva monotherapy for severe COVID-19 patients can reduce mortality and speed up recovery.
, blood oxygen improved significantly in blood lipid levels, body temperature, and inflammatory markers in patients treated with beva monotherapy, in addition to standard treatment.
study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
In order to reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19, we aim to develop an effective treatment paradigm for patients with severe COVID-19," said Yihai Cao, professor of vascular biology in the Department of Microbiology, Oncology and Cell Biology at the Karolinska Institute.
our findings suggest that beva monoanto-standard therapy is very beneficial for patients with severe COVID-19 and should be considered a potential first-line treatment in this group.
" (Photo: www.pixabay.com) Beval monoantin is a drug that has been used to treat various cancers since 2004.
it works by inhibiting growth factor VEGF to slow the formation of new blood vessels.
elevated VEGF levels in many patients with severe COVID-19, accompanied by symptoms associated with the marker, including excessive body fluids and vascular disorders in the lungs.
this context, the researchers designed a clinical trial to study the effectiveness of combining beva monoantin with standard treatment to treat patients with severe COVID-19.
between mid-February and early April 2020, 26 patients were recruited from two hospitals in China and Italy.
these patients have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and develop symptoms such as difficulty breathing, low blood oxygen levels and pneumonia.
they were reviewed with 26 patients with similar characteristics who received standard care at the same hospital for roughly the same time period and were therefore treated as a control group.
treatment group received standard care, coupled with a single low-dose treatment of approximately 7.5 mg /kg beva monoantin, significantly improved blood oxygen levels within 24 hours compared to the control group.
the end of the follow-up period of 28 days, 92 percent of patients who received beva monotherapy no longer needed the same level of oxygen support as before the trial began, compared with 62 percent for the control group.
patients treated with beval monotherapy did not die, and 17 (65%) improved so much that they were able to leave the hospital during follow-up.
in the control group, three died and only 46 percent were discharged within 28 days.
also reduced the duration of oxygen support to a median of 9 days, while the standard care group was 20 days.
other findings include a decrease in fever, an increase in white blood cells, and a sharp drop in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (inflammatory markers).
found no serious safety concerns.
"many patients with severe COVID-19 require significant oxygen support during long stays in hospital, which poses a global challenge to medical supplies."
" our study shows that beva monoantin can help reduce support for oxygen and reduce hospital stays, improving the effectiveness of treatment for individual patients while reducing pressure on medical resources.
" (Bioon.com) Source: Anticancer drug may improve outcomes for severe COVID-19 patients Original source: Jiaojiao Pang et al. Efficacy and tolerability of bevacizumab in patients with severe Covid-19, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21085-8