In people diagnosed with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and needing oxygen support, intravenous administration of methylprednisolone daily for seven days was found to decrease mortality at 45 days and was linked with considerably lower intensive care unit (ICU) admission and ventilation rates compared with people receiving usual care only. This prospective randomized controlled study was carried out to investigate if 40 mg dose of intravenous methylprednisolone given twice daily for 7 days with and without a single 400 mg dose of intravenous tocilizumab leads to better outcomes in coronavirus-infected people.

Overall, 76 participants were enrolled, including 27 historical controls, 23 treated with methylprednisolone, and 26 treated with methylprednisolone plus tocilizumab. The data from the control group were procured with the aid of a retrospective review of the electronic medical records. The major endpoints were the rate of ICU admission, length of ICU stay, length of hospitalization, and days on ventilators, and day 45 all-cause mortality after randomization.

Compared to the other two groups, the methylprednisolone group exhibited reduced rates of admission to ICU, invasive mechanical ventilation, time on a ventilator, number of days in the ICU. One subject in the methylprednisolone arm and five subjects in the control arm died within 45 days, as illustrated in Table 1:

Survival was greatest in people given methylprednisolone alone. Adding tocilizumab to methylprednisolone did not improve survival and other outcomes.