Is Simvastatin Effective in Treating Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients? New Study sheds light

An international, adaptive platform trial aimed at assessing the effectiveness of simvastatin in critically ill COVID-19 patients has concluded that the drug was not superior to a control group in terms of clinical outcomes. Simvastatin, administered at a daily dose of 80 mg, was compared to a control group of critically ill COVID-19 patients who were not receiving statins at baseline.

The primary outcome measure of the study was the number of respiratory and cardiovascular organ support-free days through day 21, evaluated on an ordinal scale that combined in-hospital deaths and days free of organ support in survivors. The study employed a Bayesian hierarchical ordinal model for its analysis.

It was found that the median number of organ support-free days was similar in both groups, with 11 days for the simvastatin group and 7 days for the control group. The analysis yielded a 95.9% posterior probability of no superiority for simvastatin when compared to the control group.

At 90 days, the hazard ratio for survival was in favor of simvastatin, indicating a 91.9% posterior probability of superiority. However, this outcome did not reach statistical significance.

The study reported that serious adverse events, such as elevated levels of liver enzymes and creatine kinase, occurred more frequently in the simvastatin group compared to the control group.

Ref: October 25, 2023 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2309995