Quelling the COVID-19 Cytokine Storm in Hospitalized Patients: Current Thinking, Emerging Data

Target Audience
This activity has been designed for a range of clinicians who are integral in managing patients with severe COVID-19 throughout hospitalization (critical care specialists, infectious disease specialists, emergency medicine physicians, pulmonologists, hospitalists, and primary care clinicians). The initiative may be of benefit to other clinicians involved in the treatment of hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 who often have little experience with immunomodulatory treatment.

Program Overview
The search for optimal COVID-19 treatment remains an urgent priority, especially in hospitalized patients who are at the highest risk for mortality and other negative outcomes. An appreciation of the “cytokine storm” in severe COVID-19 has illuminated a role for interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibition using tocilizumab, an IL-6 receptor blocker, or Janus kinase (JAK) inhibition in certain patients. Continually emerging data, evolving guideline recommendations, and confusion about patient selection and the optimal timing of treatment initiation challenge hospital-based clinicians to keep pace and make appropriate, evidence-based care decisions. This webinar reviews current thinking on the role of recommended immunomodulatory therapies and agents in late-phase investigation, including the pathophysiological processes they target, contextualization of clinical trial data discussed and illustrated in whiteboard animations, and with expert-led discussion to help clinicians make individualized COVID treatment decisions in the hospital.

Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to:

Identify key characteristics of COVID-19 pathophysiology that are associated with more progressive and severe disease
Summarize efficacy and safety of treatments that are recommended to treat hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19
Make immunomodulatory treatment decisions (eg, agent selection and timing of initiation) for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 based on clinical characteristics and current data