Research finds potential treatment for COVID-19-associated pneumonia

Washington: In a study of 22 patients with advanced-stage COVID-19-associated pneumonia, researchers found that patients treated with the antiinflammatory drug anakinra in addition to standard-of-care treatment exhibited significant clinical improvement, according to the study published on Wednesday.

Around the tenth day after diagnosis, about 20 percent of patients with COVID-19-associated pneumonia evolved toward severe oxygen dependence (stage 2b) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (stage 3) associated with systemic inflammation, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers treated COVID-19 patients early in the disease with the IL-1 receptor antagonist, anakinra.