As I posted on another thread:
There is a possible silver lining on COVID19 cloud for Crohn's patients on immunosuppressive therapy. Namely, the immunosuppressive therapy
might serve to dampen the runaway immune response that occurs in the worst COVID19 cases. Most people have a mild respiratory infection, but in the worst COVID19 cases the immune system goes nuts trying to battle the infection and creates a lot of damage in the lungs, sometimes leading to trouble breathig and even death.
China is now turning to an immunosuppressive arthritis drug to fight these severe cases. The drug binds with and innactivates the inflammatory lymphokine IL-6 receptor, similar to the way Stelara inactivates other inflammatory lymphokines IL-12 and IL-23 by binding them directly. This blocking of IL-6 activity keeps the runaway immune response in check allowing the patients to recover.
You can read about this approach here:
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma...mra-against-covid-19-new-treatment-guidelines
So I must stress that there is no data now on using Stelara or any other Crohn's drug to fight raging COVID19 infections, but my hope is that the Stelara I'm on might have some beneficial effects in that direction should I come down with the virus. Until we have more and better data it's a total long-shot wish. But I'll take it at this point.