Lilly, Incyte: Baricitinib Reduced Deaths In COVID-19 Patients Under Invasive Mechanical Ventilation

(RTTNews) - Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) Tuesday said that new data from Phase 3 COV-BARRIER sub-study indicated that baricitinib reduced deaths among patients with COVID-19 receiving invasive mechanical ventilation.

As per the data, one death prevented for every six baricitinib-treated patients on mechanical ventilation compared to placebo.

Baricitinib is an oral JAK inhibitor discovered by Incyte and licensed to Lilly.

Lilly said it intends to publish detailed results from this additional sub-study in a peer-reviewed journal and present the findings at a medical meeting in the coming months. These new data from the COV-BARRIER sub-study will also be shared with regulatory authorities in the U.S., European Union and other geographies.

In the sub-study, patients with COVID-19 on mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO who received baricitinib plus standard of care were 46 percent less likely to die by Day 28 compared to patients who received placebo plus standard of care.

The findings are consistent with the reduction in mortality observed in the overall COV-BARRIER patient population.

On July 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationbroadened the Emergency Use Authorization for baricitinib to allow for treatment with or without remdesivir.