Yesterday, the WHO announced that three drugs are being tested as effective treatments for COVID-19. The trial will include infliximab, which is currently approved to treat autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Read More »Last Friday, Nature Medicine published the results of a Phase 4 trial on the CoronaVac vaccine, which took place in Brazil. This trial aimed to evaluate both the immunogenicity and safety of CoronaVac in 910 patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD). Immunogenicity measures the ability of a vaccine to induce an immune response in someone who’s been vaccinated (1). In this particular study, immunogenicity was indicated by the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and neutralizing antibodies. The results found that the vaccine produced an immune response in patients with ARD, but at lower levels when compared to the control group.
Read More »During an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting last week, CDC staff confirmed that a third dose booster may be on the horizon for those who are immunocompromised. This comes after promising data of a third dose eliciting a robust immune response in those who had previously received a full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but were unable to produce detectable antibodies.
Read More »Pfizer is planning a clinical trial on the efficacy of a third vaccine to boost the creation of antibodies in immunocompromised individuals. This trial will include 360 participants who are ages 2+ and immunocompromised (to include those on immunomodulator therapy for an autoimmune disease).
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