Robert L. Gottlieb M.D. Ph.D.

Rosas, I. O., G. Diaz, R. L. Gottlieb, S. M. Lobo, P. Robinson, B. D. Hunter, A. W. Cavalcante, J. S. Overcash, N. A. Hanania, A. Skarbnik, J. Garcia-Diaz, I. Gordeev, J. Carratalà, O. Gordon, E. Graham, N. Lewin-Koh, L. Tsai, K. Tuckwell, H. Cao, D. Brainard and J. K. Olsson (2021). “Tocilizumab and remdesivir in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia: a randomized clinical trial.” Intensive Care Med 47(11): 1258-1270.

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PURPOSE: Trials of tocilizumab in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia have demonstrated mixed results, and the role of tocilizumab in combination with other treatments is uncertain. Here we evaluated whether tocilizumab plus remdesivir provides greater benefit than remdesivir alone in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial included patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia requiring > 6 L/min supplemental oxygen. Patients were randomly assigned (2:1 ratio) to receive tocilizumab 8 mg/kg or placebo intravenously plus ≤ 10 days of remdesivir. The primary outcome was time from randomization to hospital discharge or “ready for discharge” (defined as category 1, assessed by the investigator on a 7-category ordinal scale of clinical status) to day 28. Patients were followed for 60 days. RESULTS: Among 649 enrolled patients, 434 were randomly assigned to tocilizumab plus remdesivir and 215 to placebo plus remdesivir. 566 patients (88.2%) received corticosteroids during the trial to day 28. Median time from randomization to hospital discharge or “ready for discharge” was 14 (95% CI 12-15) days with tocilizumab plus remdesivir and 14 (95% CI 11-16) days with placebo plus remdesivir [log-rank P = 0.74; Cox proportional hazards ratio 0.97 (95% CI 0.78-1.19)]. Serious adverse events occurred in 128 (29.8%) tocilizumab plus remdesivir and 72 (33.8%) placebo plus remdesivir patients; 78 (18.2%) and 42 (19.7%) patients, respectively, died by day 28. CONCLUSIONS: Tocilizumab plus remdesivir did not shorten time to hospital discharge or “ready for discharge” to day 28 compared with placebo plus remdesivir in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

Dougan, M., A. Nirula, M. Azizad, B. Mocherla, R. L. Gottlieb, P. Chen, C. Hebert, R. Perry, J. Boscia, B. Heller, J. Morris, C. Crystal, A. Igbinadolor, G. Huhn, J. Cardona, I. Shawa, P. Kumar, A. C. Adams, J. Van Naarden, K. L. Custer, M. Durante, G. Oakley, A. E. Schade, T. R. Holzer, P. J. Ebert, R. E. Higgs, N. L. Kallewaard, J. Sabo, D. R. Patel, M. C. Dabora, P. Klekotka, L. Shen and D. M. Skovronsky (2021). “Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab in Mild or Moderate Covid-19.” N Engl J Med 385(15): 1382-1392.

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BACKGROUND: Patients with underlying medical conditions are at increased risk for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Whereas vaccine-derived immunity develops over time, neutralizing monoclonal-antibody treatment provides immediate, passive immunity and may limit disease progression and complications. METHODS: In this phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, a cohort of ambulatory patients with mild or moderate Covid-19 who were at high risk for progression to severe disease to receive a single intravenous infusion of either a neutralizing monoclonal-antibody combination agent (2800 mg of bamlanivimab and 2800 mg of etesevimab, administered together) or placebo within 3 days after a laboratory diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The primary outcome was the overall clinical status of the patients, defined as Covid-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause by day 29. RESULTS: A total of 1035 patients underwent randomization and received an infusion of bamlanivimab-etesevimab or placebo. The mean (±SD) age of the patients was 53.8±16.8 years, and 52.0% were adolescent girls or women. By day 29, a total of 11 of 518 patients (2.1%) in the bamlanivimab-etesevimab group had a Covid-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause, as compared with 36 of 517 patients (7.0%) in the placebo group (absolute risk difference, -4.8 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -7.4 to -2.3; relative risk difference, 70%; P<0.001). No deaths occurred in the bamlanivimab-etesevimab group; in the placebo group, 10 deaths occurred, 9 of which were designated by the trial investigators as Covid-19-related. At day 7, a greater reduction from baseline in the log viral load was observed among patients who received bamlanivimab plus etesevimab than among those who received placebo (difference from placebo in the change from baseline, -1.20; 95% CI, -1.46 to -0.94; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Among high-risk ambulatory patients, bamlanivimab plus etesevimab led to a lower incidence of Covid-19-related hospitalization and death than did placebo and accelerated the decline in the SARS-CoV-2 viral load. (Funded by Eli Lilly; BLAZE-1 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04427501.).

Dougan, M., M. Azizad, B. Mocherla, R. L. Gottlieb, P. Chen, C. Hebert, R. Perry, J. Boscia, B. Heller, J. Morris, C. Crystal, A. Igbinadolor, G. Huhn, J. Cardona, I. Shawa, P. Kumar, A. Blomkalns, A. C. Adams, J. Van Naarden, K. L. Custer, J. Knorr, G. Oakley, A. E. Schade, T. R. Holzer, P. J. Ebert, R. E. Higgs, J. Sabo, D. R. Patel, M. C. Dabora, M. Williams, P. Klekotka, L. Shen, D. M. Skovronsky and A. Nirula (2021). “A randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of bamlanivimab and etesevimab together in high-risk ambulatory patients with COVID-19 and validation of the prognostic value of persistently high viral load.” Clin Infect Dis Oct 28; ciab912. [Epub ahead of print].

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BACKGROUND: Based on interim analyses and modelling data, lower doses of bamlanivimab and etesevimab together (700mg/1400mg) were investigated to determine optimal dose and expand availability of treatment. METHODS: This Phase 3 portion of the BLAZE-1 trial characterized the effect of bamlanivimab with etesevimab on overall patient clinical status and virologic outcomes in ambulatory patients ≥12 years old, with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, and ≥1 risk factor for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization. Bamlanivimab and etesevimab together (700mg/1400mg) or placebo were infused intravenously within 3 days of patients’ first positive COVID-19 test. RESULTS: 769 patients were infused (median age [range]; 56.0 years [12, 93], 30.3% of patients ≥65 years of age and median duration of symptoms; 4 days). By day 29, 4/511 patients (0.8%) in the antibody treatment group had a COVID-19-related hospitalization or any-cause death, as compared with 15/258 patients (5.8%) in the placebo group (Δ[95% CI]=-5.0 [-8.0, -2.1], p<0.001). No deaths occurred in the bamlanivimab and etesevimab group compared with 4 deaths (all COVID-19-related) in the placebo group. Patients receiving antibody treatment had a greater mean reduction in viral load from baseline to Day 7 (Δ[95% CI]=-0.99 [-1.33, -0.66], p<0.0001) compared with those receiving placebo. Persistently high viral load at Day 7 correlated with COVID-19-related hospitalization or any-cause death by Day 29 in all BLAZE-1 cohorts investigated. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the use of bamlanivimab and etesevimab (700mg/1400mg) for ambulatory patients at high risk for severe COVID-19. Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants will require continued monitoring to determine the applicability of this treatment.

Rosas, I. O., G. Diaz, R. L. Gottlieb, S. M. Lobo, P. Robinson, B. D. Hunter, A. W. Cavalcante, J. S. Overcash, N. A. Hanania, A. Skarbnik, J. Garcia-Diaz, I. Gordeev, J. Carratalà, O. Gordon, E. Graham, N. Lewin-Koh, L. Tsai, K. Tuckwell, H. Cao, D. Brainard and J. K. Olsson (2021). “Tocilizumab and remdesivir in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia: a randomized clinical trial.” Intensive Care Med: 1-13.

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PURPOSE: Trials of tocilizumab in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia have demonstrated mixed results, and the role of tocilizumab in combination with other treatments is uncertain. Here we evaluated whether tocilizumab plus remdesivir provides greater benefit than remdesivir alone in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial included patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia requiring > 6 L/min supplemental oxygen. Patients were randomly assigned (2:1 ratio) to receive tocilizumab 8 mg/kg or placebo intravenously plus ≤ 10 days of remdesivir. The primary outcome was time from randomization to hospital discharge or “ready for discharge” (defined as category 1, assessed by the investigator on a 7-category ordinal scale of clinical status) to day 28. Patients were followed for 60 days. RESULTS: Among 649 enrolled patients, 434 were randomly assigned to tocilizumab plus remdesivir and 215 to placebo plus remdesivir. 566 patients (88.2%) received corticosteroids during the trial to day 28. Median time from randomization to hospital discharge or “ready for discharge” was 14 (95% CI 12-15) days with tocilizumab plus remdesivir and 14 (95% CI 11-16) days with placebo plus remdesivir [log-rank P = 0.74; Cox proportional hazards ratio 0.97 (95% CI 0.78-1.19)]. Serious adverse events occurred in 128 (29.8%) tocilizumab plus remdesivir and 72 (33.8%) placebo plus remdesivir patients; 78 (18.2%) and 42 (19.7%) patients, respectively, died by day 28. CONCLUSIONS: Tocilizumab plus remdesivir did not shorten time to hospital discharge or “ready for discharge” to day 28 compared with placebo plus remdesivir in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

Mozaffari, E., A. Chandak, Z. Zhang, S. Liang, M. Thrun, R. L. Gottlieb, D. R. Kuritzkes, P. E. Sax, D. A. Wohl, R. Casciano, P. Hodgkins and R. Haubrich (2021). “Remdesivir treatment in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a comparative analysis of in-hospital all-cause mortality in a large multi-center observational cohort.” Clin Infect Dis. [Epub ahead of print].

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BACKGROUND: Remdesivir (RDV) improved clinical outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in randomized trials, but data from clinical practice are limited. METHODS: We examined survival outcomes for US patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between Aug-Nov 2020 and treated with RDV within two-days of hospitalization vs. those not receiving RDV during their hospitalization using the Premier Healthcare Database. Preferential within-hospital propensity score matching with replacement was used. Additionally, patients were also matched on baseline oxygenation level (no supplemental oxygen charges (NSO), low-flow oxygen (LFO), high-flow oxygen/non-invasive ventilation (HFO/NIV) and invasive mechanical ventilation/ECMO (IMV/ECMO) and two-month admission window and excluded if discharged within 3-days of admission (to exclude anticipated discharges/transfers within 72-hrs consistent with ACTT-1 study). Cox Proportional Hazards models were used to assess time to 14-/28-day mortality overall and for patients on NSO, LFO, HFO/NIV and IMV/ECMO. RESULTS: 28,855 RDV patients were matched to 16,687 unique non-RDV patients. Overall, 10.6% and 15.4% RDV patients died within 14- and 28-days, respectively compared with 15.4% and 19.1% non-RDV patients. Overall, RDV was associated with a reduction in mortality at 14-days (HR[95% CI]: 0.76[0.70-0.83]) and 28-days (0.89[0.82-0.96]). This mortality benefit was also seen for NSO, LFO and IMV/ECMO at 14-days (NSO:0.69[0.57-0.83], LFO:0.68[0.80-0.77], IMV/ECMO:0.70[0.58-0.84]) and 28-days (NSO:0.80[0.68-0.94], LFO:0.77[0.68-0.86], IMV/ECMO:0.81[0.69-0.94]). Additionally, HFO/NIV RDV group had a lower risk of mortality at 14-days (0.81[0.70-0.93]) but no statistical significance at 28-days. CONCLUSIONS: RDV initiated upon hospital admission was associated with improved survival among COVID-19 patients. Our findings complement ACTT-1 and support RDV as a foundational treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.