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The WHO has strongly recommended that doctors use an arthritis drug called baricitinib to treat people with severe or critical COVID-19. The drug belongs to a class of medications known as Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, which block the activity of immune signaling molecules called cytokines. In severe and critical COVID-19, an excess of cytokines in the body, or “cytokine stormTrusted Source,” sends the immune system into overdrive, with potentially fatal consequences. After reviewing the latest results from clinical trials, a panel of experts at the WHO concluded that there is good evidence that baricitinib improves survival, reduces the need for...

A drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis has been found to improve survival of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. The discovery comes from a study of over 1,500 Covid-19 patients in 12 countries and is being hailed as a significant breakthrough for treatment options for people who are severely ill with Covid-19. Early on in the pandemic in February 2020, baricitinib was identified as a promising drug to treat Covid-19 by a company using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to identify potential treatments for diseases. The drug, normally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, was thought to have possible antivirus properties, but...