Experimental GSK Treatment May Help Elderly, Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Significantly more hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 70 and up were alive and free of respiratory failure after treatment with GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) investigational monoclonal antibody otilimab in a phase 2 clinical trial, the company said Thursday.

The Otilimab in Severe COVID-19 Related Disease (OSCAR) study failed to meet its primary endpoint, because that was defined as all hospitalized adult patients aged 18 and up who were alive and free of respiratory failure 28 days after treatment. But in the elderly patients, of whom there were 180 out of 806 patients in total, 65.1 percent reached the endpoint, compared to 45.9 percent of patients who received the standard of care alone.

Moreover, by their 60th day in the hospital, 40.4 percent of the elderly group who got otilimab were alive, compared to 26 percent on the standard of care alone, for a treatment difference of 14.4 percentage points.

The two treatment arms in the study were standard of care alone, including antiviral treatments and corticosteroids, and standard of care plus a single dose of otilimab. Among all the adult patients, the treatment difference was 5.3 percentage points in favor of otilimab, which did not reach statistical significance.

“Patients age 70 and up account for 70 percent of COVID-related deaths and nearly 40 percent of hospitalizations,” noted Christopher Corsico, GSK’s senior vice president for development. The OSCAR study will be amended to expand this cohort to “confirm these potentially significant findings.” the company said. — Martin Berman-Gorvine