Serum IL-6 and Soluble IL-6 Receptor in Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia Treated With Tocilizumab

Overview

This is a single arm, prospective, observational, single center study to assess the role of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble interleukin 6 receptor (sIL-6R) as predictors of efficacy and safety outcomes in patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia treated with tocilizumab. At least 30 patients will be enrolled who are diagnosed with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and meet the entry criteria.

Patients must be at least 18 years of age with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (and/or ARDS) confirmed per World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, and evidence of pulmonary infiltration (by chest X-ray and/or CT scan), including a virological confirmation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection by positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of any specimen; e.g., respiratory, blood, urine, stool, other bodily fluid. At the time of enrollment, patients have to fulfill criteria of the local recommendations for the treatment with tocilizumab (TCZ): hypoxemia (defined as arterial oxygen partial pressure/fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio ≤300 mmHg and/or peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) ≤93%) regardless of the oxygenation method including low-flow oxygen administration on nasal cannula or mask with oxygen flow rate of \> 12 liters per minute, high-flow oxygen through nasal cannula, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) whatever the modalities of ventilation, invasive ventilation through tracheal intubation or tracheostomy, and extracorporeal oxygenation, despite being on standard of care (SOC), which may include anti-viral treatment, low dose steroids, antimalarials and supportive treatment and care. Patients in whom, in the opinion of the treating physician, progression to death is imminent and inevitable within the next 24 hours, will be excluded from the study. Patients with active tuberculosis (TB) or suspected active bacterial, fungal, viral, or other infection (besides COVID-19) will be excluded from the study. Patients will receive one infusion of TCZ 8 mg/kg i.v., with a maximum dose of 800 mg, and SOC treatment according to local guidelines (hydroxychloroquine or/and lopinavir/ritonavir or/and remdesivir). If the clinical signs or symptoms worsen or do not improve (reflected by sustained fever or at least a one-category worsening on the 7-category ordinal scale of clinical status), one additional infusion of blinded treatment of TCZ or placebo may be given, after more than 12 hours per local protocol. The study assessments to be conducted include the following: physical examination, vital signs, oxygen saturation, assessment of consciousness, presence and absence of respiratory support, adverse events, concomitant therapies, clinical laboratory tests, and nasopharyngeal swabs.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes

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