Pfizer's Xeljanz Cuts Incidence Of Death, Respiratory Failure In COVID-19 Patients, Brazilian Study Shows

Pfizer Inc PFE said that its oral rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz (tofacitinib) reduced death or respiratory failure in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pneumonia in Brazil, meeting the study’s primary goal.
Results of the study, which tested the drug in 289 hospitalized adult patients with respiratory illness due to the infection, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Incidence of death or respiratory failure was 18.1% for patients treated with the drug compared to 29% for placebo.
Death from any cause through day 28 occurred in 2.8% of patients in the tofacitinib group and 5.5% in the placebo group.
Serious adverse events occurred in 20 patients treated with the drug compared to 17 patients on placebo.
The incidence of severe infection was 3.5% in the tofacitinib group and 4.2% in the placebo group.
Xeljanz belongs to a class of drugs called JAK inhibitors and is approved in four indications.
Price Action: PFE shares are down 0.05% at $39.28 during the premarket trading session on the last check Thursday.