Pfizer Inc.’s oral rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz reduced death or respiratory failure in hospitalized Covid-19 patients with pneumonia in Brazil, meeting the study’s main goal.

Roche culled two more Phase II Covid-19 programs, as announced in the Swiss pharma giant’s first-quarter 2021 financial report.

Genentech reported that the company’s rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra failed to hit the primary endpoint in a Covid-19 trial, while Vir and GlaxoSmithKline’s antibody against Covid-19 demonstrated 85 percent efficacy.

A majority of Covid-19 patients that were admitted to U.S. hospitals during the first few months of the pandemic were prescribed antibiotics even before a bacterial infection had been confirmed, a study showed on March 10.

GlaxoSmithKline will extend a trial testing an experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug on patients suffering from pneumonia related to Covid-19 to focus on the elderly as the company seeks to firm up encouraging findings.

A study showed the use of convalescent plasma provided no clinical benefit nor improved mortality in Covid-19 patients with pneumonia.

Using blood plasma from Covid-19 survivors to treat patients with severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus showed little benefit, according to data released from a clinical trial in Argentina.

In a Reuters roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for Covid-19, common cold antibodies yield clues to Covid-19 behavior.

A study of the lungs of people who have died from Covid-19 found persistent and extensive lung damage in most cases and may help doctors understand what is behind a syndrome known as ‘long Covid’, in which patients suffer ongoing symptoms for months.

A roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines includes a higher complication rate with Covid-19 versus the flu.