September 29, 2020 – Nutley, NJ – A one-two punch of changing gene expression, then deploying immune checkpoint inhibitors, shows promise in battling one of the most treatment-resistant types of cancer in preclinical models, according to a new publication including authors from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI).
Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive health network which treated more COVID-19 patients than any other health system in the state, is now enrolling individuals in a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.
Among other treatments, they said tocilizumab was considered for off-label usage for the patients whose respiratory symptoms were declining -- many of whom were requiring mechanical ventilator support. In the observational study, the researchers noted that 210 patients received tocilizumab, and the other 420 did not.
Researchers at Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive health network, have utilized its statewide observational database of more than 5,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients to show that a drug normally used in rheumatoid arthritis and cancer treatments, tocilizumab, improves hospital survival in critically-ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).