Tocilizumab in COVID-19 Pneumonia (TOCIVID-19)

Multicenter Study on the Efficacy and Tolerability of Tocilizumab in the Treatment of Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia

This study project includes a single-arm phase 2 study and a parallel cohort study, enrolling patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Phase 2 study: this is a multicenter, single-arm, open-label, phase 2 study. All the patients enrolled are treated with tocilizumab. Two-week (14 days) and one-month (30 days) lethality rates are the co-primary endpoints.

The parallel cohort includes patients who are treated with tocilizumab and cannot enter the phase 2 study because:

1. emergency conditions or infrastructural or operational limits prevented registration before the administration of the experimental drug or
2. they had been intubated more than 24 hours before registration or
3. the phase 2 study has been closed due to reached sample size.

This means that, after closure of the phase 2 enrolment, patients who might be eligible for the phase 2 study will be included in the observational cohort study.

The same information planned for the phase 2 cohort is required also for the parallel cohort study whose sample size is not defined a priori, and that will close at the end of the overall project. All the patients enrolled are treated with tocilizumab.

In both study groups (phase 2 and parallel cohort), participants receive one dose of Tocilizumab 8 mg/kg (up to a maximum of 800mg per dose). A second administration (same dose) can be given after 12 hours if respiratory function has not recovered, at discretion of the Investigator.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Any gender
2. No age limit
3. Informed consent for participation in the study (consent can be oral if a written consent cannot be expressed. If the subject is incapable of giving an informed consent and an authorized representative is not available without a delay that would, in the opinion of the Investigator, compromise the potential life-saving effect of the treatment this can be administered without consent. Consent to remain in the research should be sought as soon the conditions of the patient will allow it)
4. Virological diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection (real-time PCR)
5. Hospitalized due to clinical/instrumental diagnosis of pneumonia
6. Oxygen saturation at rest in ambient air ≤93% or requiring oxygen therapy or mechanical ventilation either non invasive or invasive (intubated)
7. Patients with criteria #4 and #5 who have been already treated with tocilizumab before registration are eligible for the observational retrospective cohort

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Known hypersensitivity to tocilizumab or its excipients
2. Known active infections or other clinical condition that contraindicate tocilizumab and cannot be treated or solved according to the judgement of the clinician
3. ALT / AST> 5 times the upper limit of the normality
4. Neutrophils <500 / mmc
5. Platelets <50.000 / mmc
6. Bowel diverticulitis or perforation