Erik Duijvelaar u.a.: Long-term clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients treated with imatinib, in: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, online in: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00052-2 (February 17, 2022).
In this article the authors report the 90-day outcomes of the CounterCOVID study and investigate the mechanisms underlying the clinical benefit of imatinib.
“Hypoxaemia in COVID-19 is primarily caused by disruption of the alveolocapillary barrier on inflammation and dysfunction of the endothelium. To date, antiviral or immune-modulatory treatment options have been thoroughly studied, yet there is no approved therapy targeting endothelial dysfunction. Imatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that attenuates vascular leakage under inflammatory conditions. In the CounterCOVID study, patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 treated with imatinib had a shorter duration of invasive ventilation and shorter stay at the intensive care unit (ICU). Although a signal for reduced mortality was observed, a definite answer on mortality was precluded by correction for imbalances in patient characteristics at baseline and the short follow-up of 28 days.”