Journal Article

Association between tocilizumab, sarilumab and all-cause mortality at 28 days in hospitalised patients with COVID-19: A network meta-analysis

Lorenzi, Elizabeth, Godolphin, Peter J., Sterne, Jonathan A. C., Diaz, Janet V., Derde, Lennie P. G., Gordon, Anthony C., Berry, Lindsay R., Vale, Claire L., Shankar-Hari, Manu, Tierney, Jayne F., Murthy, Srinivas, Marshall, John C., Fisher, David J.

2022

Overview

A recent prospective meta-analysis demonstrated that interleukin-6 antagonists are associated with lower all-cause mortality in hospitalised patients with COVID-19, compared with usual care or placebo. However, emerging evidence suggests that clinicians are favouring the use of tocilizumab over sarilumab. A new randomised comparison of these agents from the REMAP-CAP trial shows similar effects on in-hospital mortality. Therefore, we initiated a network meta-analysis, to estimate pairwise associations between tocilizumab, sarilumab and usual care or placebo with 28-day mortality, in COVID-19 patients receiving concomitant corticosteroids and ventilation, based on all available direct and indirect evidence. Eligible trials randomised hospitalised patients with COVID-19 that compared tocilizumab or sarilumab with usual care or placebo in the prospective meta-analysis or that directly compared tocilizumab with sarilumab. Data were restricted to patients receiving corticosteroids and either non-invasive or invasive ventilation at randomisation. Pairwise associations between tocilizumab, sarilumab and usual care or placebo for all-cause mortality 28 days after randomisation were estimated using a frequentist contrast-based network meta-analysis of odds ratios (ORs), implementing multivariate fixed-effects models that assume consistency between the direct and indirect evidence. One trial (REMAP-CAP) was identified that directly compared tocilizumab with sarilumab and supplied results on all-cause mortality at 28-days. This network meta-analysis was based on 898 eligible patients (278 deaths) from REMAP-CAP and 3710 eligible patients from 18 trials (1278 deaths) from the prospective meta-analysis. Summary ORs were similar for tocilizumab [0·82 [0·71-0·95, p = 0·008]] and sarilumab [0·80 [0·61-1·04, p = 0·09]] compared with usual care or placebo. The summary OR for 28-day mortality comparing tocilizumab with sarilumab was 1·03 [95%CI 0·81-1·32, p = 0·80]. The p-value for the global test of inconsistency was 0·28. Administration of either tocilizumab or sarilumab was associated with lower 28-day all-cause mortality compared with usual care or placebo. The association is not dependent on the choice of interleukin-6 receptor antagonist.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adrenal Cortex Hormones - therapeutic use / Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Bias / Biology and Life Sciences / Clinical trials / Computer and Information Sciences / Coronaviruses / Corticoids / Corticosteroids / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Drug Treatment / Cytokines / Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation / Fatalities / Health aspects / Health risks / Humans / Interleukin 6 / Medicine and Health Sciences / Meta-analysis / Monoclonal antibodies / Mortality / Patients / Physical Sciences / Placebos / Prospective Studies / Randomization / Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Research and Analysis Methods / Review boards / Steroids / Ventilation / Ventilators