Patients at Northampton General Hospital help major drug discovery in battle against Covid-19

Covid-19 sufferers at Northampton General Hospital have been thanked for helping find a drug to treat other patients affected by the deadly virus.

Front-line staff at the Cliftonville site delivered a series of Urgent Public Health studies as part of a major research programme led by the National Institute for Health Research.

Results announced from the trial showed tocilizumab, a widely available arthritis treatment, can save lives, shorten hospital stays and decrease the likelihood of Covid-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation.

Boris Johnson mentioned the drug during last night's Downing Street press conference — although the PM took 30 seconds trying to pronounce it.

More than 35,000 patients at 177 hospitals country-wide have taken part in trials but NGH ranks among the top sites for recruiting Covid-19 patients to help.

NGH Medical Director, Matt Metcalfe, said “We are incredibly grateful to all Covid-19 patients in Northampton who have taken part in vital research during the past year.

"The determination of patients to be part of research helping to identify treatments to reduce the impact of Covid-19 has been inspiring, and it is positive to see that everyone’s hard work is now paying off.”

Kay Faulkner, the hospital's associate director research, innovation and education added “Research relies on a successful partnership between patients and staff, and I also want to thank our research staff for their enormous efforts over the past year to enable us to conduct vital research whilst maintaining the highest standards of patient care.

"These results are testament to the role our research team have played locally and seeing the findings will give everyone involved a boost.”

In the Recovery trial, researchers found that when given alongside the steroid dexamethasone, tocilizumab reduced the absolute risk of mortality by four percentage points.

The drug was found to reduce the relative risk of death by 14 per cent and cut the time spent in hospital by five days when used for patients on oxygen and in addition to the dexamethasone.

More than 4,000 patients were involved in the Recovery trial, with 2,022 patients randomly allocated to receive tocilizumab, while the rest received the usual standard care.

NHS chiefs revealed 193 Covid patients were being treated in Northamptonshire's two main hospitals at Northampton and Kettering by last Friday — although 38 of those had recovered from the virus and were either waiting to go home or being treated for something else.

But they also revealed the number of patients in the hospitals high-dependency beds battling the virus had increased to 25.