medwireNews: EULAR has issued guidance on the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and the potential use of immunomodulatory therapies for its treatment.
“In this rapidly evolving landscape, and with the need to optimally define therapeutics solutions, it is considerably important to provide the medical and scientific community with guidance using the best available evidence,” say Xavier Mariette (Université Paris-Saclay, France) and colleagues.
The guidance, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, comprises two overarching principles highlighting the heterogeneity of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the need for a multifaceted treatment approach, along with 14 more specific “points to consider” regarding the two principles.
Currently available evidence “points towards a central role for immunomodulatory therapy, especially glucocorticoids, in improving disease survival in severe COVID-19,” report Mariette and team. They note that research to date has not demonstrated a beneficial effect of immunomodulatory treatment on mortality risk for the most part, but there have been “inconsistent results for tocilizumab.”
The authors recommend that “[i]nvolvement of rheumatologists, as systemic inflammatory diseases experts, should continue in ongoing clinical trials delineating optimal immunomodulatory therapy utilisation in COVID-19.”
They conclude: “These first EULAR [points to consider] are intended to evolve and should be updated in response to the rapid increase of knowledge about the disease and the forthcoming vaccines.”
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2021 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group
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Ann Rheum Dis 2021; doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219724