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This would reduce COVID-19 mortality as about 17% of COVID-19 patients develop ARDS.
Patrick Aiyes MEng Senior Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData comments: “Currently there are no pharmaceutical companies testing TNF inhibitors in patients with COVID-19; this could be an opportunity to explore given the pressing need for treatments for COVID-19. The proposed patient group for anti-TNF therapy would be those in a clinical trial setting with moderate diseases and requiring oxygen support but not admitted to intensive care.”
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Although anti-TNF therapy could be useful clinically it is possible that it may not outweigh the cost-benefit ratio given that in diseases such as ulcerative colitis (UC) the annual cost of therapy can range from US$11000–14000 in the UK.”
Aiyes concludes: “Although in theory anti-TNF therapy could be beneficial in treating COVID-19 concerns surrounding the drug class’ safety profile remain. In COVID-19 patients there is some evidence that bacterial infections could develop faster in a damaged lung and anti-TNF therapy could increase the risk of that infection due to its effects on a patient’s inflammatory response.
“There are preclinical studies in mice that demonstrate that anti-TNF therapy improves symptoms of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In RA patients blocking TNF reduces cytokine concentrations. This indicates that anti-TNFs in COVID-19 patients could prove beneficial."
