Baricitinib for hospitalised COVID-19 patients: was it a good and timely decision made by the Ministry of Health Malaysia? High-quality evidence-based editorial

Sivananthan Manoharan

Molecular Pathology Unit, Cancer Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52, Seksyen U13 Setia Alam, 40170 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CITATION: Manoharan S. Baricitinib for hospitalised COVID-19 patients: was it a good and timely decision made by the Ministry of Health Malaysia? High-quality evidence-based editorial. International Medical Research Journal. 2024 Oct;10(1):7–14.

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SUMMARY

Based on two earliest mixed mortality outcome randomized controlled trial reports published in The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the Ministry of Health Malaysia decided to introduce baricitinib with the aim to reduce mortality or death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Later, a few more randomized controlled trials reported mixed mortality outcomes. Based on the meta-analysis using 5 high qualities, well designed, low risk of bias and mostly huge sample size powered phase 3 randomized controlled trials, baricitinib was statistically proven (p<0.0001) to reduce mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with 0% heterogeneity. Based on the meta-analysis finding, it is concretely proven that the decision made by the Ministry of Health Malaysia to introduce baricitinib for the management of hospitalized COVID-19 patients was indeed a right and timely decision.

KEYWORDS: Baricitinib, COVID-19, Editorial, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Mortality, Randomized controlled trials