New UK Drug Hope

Brit scientists back using medication that's already here to save lives

- Geraldine Mckelvie

British scientists are backing the use of an immunotherapy drug on Covid-19 patients – insisting that it could save lives.

The medicine is already prescribed for people with severe rheumatoid arthritis, and could be used on coronavirus sufferers in months without the need for trials.

Medical experts are now pushing for more urgent research into immune system drug tocilizumab’s effect on the killer virus.

And Dr Doug Brown, head of the British Society for Immunology, said similar drugs had helped severely ill patients in Spain. He added: “Immunotherapies are a viable option and could save lives.”

Prof Kevin Harrington, a biological therapies expert at the Institute of Cancer Research, agreed: “There is the real possibility this could save the lives of coronavirus patients who would otherwise die.