Pfizer's tofacitinib meets goal in COVID-19 pneumonia trial

17 June 2021

Positive findings from the STOP-COVID study (NCT04469114) evaluating the efficacy and safety of oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib in 289 hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were not on ventilation have been published in that the New England Journal of Medicine.

The trial was a research collaboration between US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and the Academic Research Organization (ARO) from the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which was the trial coordinating center. It is important to note that tofacitinib has not been approved or authorized for use by any regulatory authority worldwide for the treatment of COVID-19 and tofacitinib should not be used in patients with an active serious infection.

Marketed by Pfizer as Xeljanz, tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor that is approved in the USA for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis and polyarticular course juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pcJIA).

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