Biologics and steroids to treat coronavirus

I inject myself weekly with Tocilizumab weekly to help manage my RA. At over £200 per injection it is not cheap.
Apparently research has shown that Tocilizumab is an effective treatment in severe patients of COVID-19 to calm the inflammatory storm and reduce mortality.

No wonder Boris stumbled over the pronunciation of the two drugs. They aren’t easy to say are they?
😊

My daughter had those drugs. (Not for covid) just to help keep her as well as possible.

That's what I was thinking, Marydoll. In the early days of the pandemic we were heaing a lot about Covid-triggered cytokine storms where the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues rather than just fighting off the virus. Maybe that is why these drugs are considered effective.

Yes I remember the consultant having to obtain permission to let me have Adalimumab (Humira) as it's so expensive. Before the exclusive patent for Humira expired it was, according to NHS England, the single medicine on which hospitals spent the most, at a cost of more than £400 million a year. I was first prescribed one of the less expensive biosimilars, Imraldi, but did not respond at all well to that and no longer take Adalimumab either.

I had to try every other drug available for RA, apart from those which were not suitable for me, including one which caused a minor heart attack, before I could be considered for biologics. You have to fulfil certain criteria.
They don't call it the brutal drug for nothing! It has taken me six months to tolerate it, but definitely worth the pain!.
Away back in June, my consultant told me that there has already been some success using biologics to fight severe Covid pneumonia

The dexamethosone ( anti-inflammatory ) drug is being used in drips to the very sick Covid patients. It has been proved to save a number of lives.

Yes, Marydoll. Similar for me (for a different condition), a ladder of escalating drug therapies all complete with their own set of horrid side effects. Azathioprine was the worst.

As drugs to fight Covid, it must be their ability to stop the immune system going into overdrive. I just find it ironic that drugs which can make you vulnerable to Covid complications can also be used to save your life ... if you get Covid complications. I need those nice Van Tulleken brothers to come and explain it to me.

My DH was hospitalised with Covid and pneumonia.
Prior to that he was on biologics (etanercept - like Mary's, £200 a pop and worth every penny) and methotrexate for RA.
He's been taken off both of them for a few months, and it's going to be reviewed soon.
Unfortunately he's now suffering from long covid and the after affects of pneumonia, plus an RA flare up.
There is so much going on that I don't know what it good or bad for what

Hejira I don't know why you are asking for help to understand it all, you seem well on top of it all!

Australia were trying an antiparasytic medication which is used to treat head lice. They'll try anything Then again, you would wouldn't you as long as it contained the properties to see the virus off ?

Are they protein inhibitors?
If so, they will bind to viral proteins and stop them replicating.

Swine 'flu infected 1.4billion globally, in 2009.
The AIDS epidemic/ pandemic in 1981 has claimed 35 million lives to date.
The Zika virus is ongoing and its impact won't be known for several years

In RA, Tocilizumab works by blocking the effects of IL-6 protein.