Repurposed Genentech drug fails in Italian study against Covid
San Francisco.
Ron Leuty, Staff Reporter
Jun 18, 2020, 1:26pm PDT
An inflammation-fighting rheumatoid arthritis drug, which saw anecdotal success in Italy and China during those countries' severe outbreaks of Covid-19, failed a formal clinical trial in Italy in Covid patients with pneumonia, the Italian Medicines Agency said Wednesday.
Roche and its South San Francisco-based North American biotech unit, Genentech Inc., are continuing three company-sponsored trials of the drug, known as tocilizumab and branded as Actemra. Those trials include one that combines Actemra with remdesivir, an antiviral drug from Foster City-based Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) that is the only drug with U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization against Covid.
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