Eli Lilly Says Late-stage Study Of Baricitinib In Hospitalized Covid Patients Didn't Meet Main Goal

(RTTNews) - Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) on Thursday said their late-stage study of baricitinib in hospitalized Covid-19 patients did not achieve the main goal.

The phase III study dubbed Cov-Barrier of baricitinib plus standard of care (SoC) versus placebo plus SoC did not meet statistical significance on the primary endpoint. The main goal was defined as the difference in the proportion of participants progressing to the first occurrence of non-invasive ventilation including high flow oxygen or invasive mechanical ventilation including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or death by Day 28.

The frequency of adverse events and serious adverse events were generally similar in the baricitinib and placebo groups, Eli Lilly said.

"While COV-BARRIER did not hit the primary endpoint based on stages of disease progression, the data show that baricitinib meaningfully reduced the risk of mortality above and beyond the recommended standard of care, without additional safety risks," said co-primary investigator E. Wesley Ely, professor of medicine and co-director of the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.