Preprint published: Early Anakinra Treatment for COVID-19 Guided by suPAR
Thu May 20 2021
Early start of anakinra treatment guided by suPAR provides 2.78 times better improvement of overall clinical status in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 pneumonia
SAVE-MORE is a multicenter, double-blinded, randomised controlled trial in 594 hospitalised patients that specifically identifies those at risk of severe respiratory failure by the measurement of elevated suPAR, a plasma biomarker that reflects immune activation and has been previously associated with poor prognosis in a number of conditions.
The preprint is now published, and the results show that early, suPAR-guided use of anakinra in addition to the current standard of care in hospitalised patients with poor prognosis, as demonstrated by an elevated suPAR level (above 6 ng/ml), prevented either death or progression to severe respiratory failure, whilst increasing the number of patients who were discharged from hospital with no evidence of COVID-19 infection.
Summary of results
- Early start of anakinra treatment guided by suPAR provides 2.78 times better improvement of overall clinical status in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 pneumonia
- 28-day mortality decreased (Hazard ratio: 0.45; P: 0.045)
- Anakinra-treated patients were distributed to lower strata of WHO-CPS by day 28 (adjusted odds ratio-OR 0.36; 95%CI 0.26-0.50; P<0.001)
- Anakinra protected from severe disease or death (6 or more points of WHO-CPS) (OR: 0.46; P: 0.01)
- Hospital stay was shorter
Conclusion
Early start of anakinra treatment guided by suPAR provides 2.78 times better improvement of overall clinical status in moderate and severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
The study is sponsored by the Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis (HISS) in Greece and led by its President and Chairman, Professor Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis. Giamarellos-Bourboulis is Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, President of the European Shock Society and Chairman of the European Sepsis Alliance.
