Short- and Long-Term Effects of Imatinib in Patients Hospitalised for COVID-19 Infection: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Objectives: We studied the short- and long-term effects of imatinib in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: Participants were randomized to receive standard of care (SoC) or SoC with imatinib. Imatinib dosage was 400 mg daily until discharge (max 14 days). Primary outcomes were mortality at 30 days and 1 year. Secondary outcomes included recovery, quality of life and long COVID symptoms at 1 year. We also performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials studying imatinib for 30-day mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Results: We randomized 156 patients (73 in SoC and 83 in imatinib). Among patients on imatinib, 7.2% had died at 30 days and 13.3% at 1 year, and in SoC, 4.1% and 8.2% (adjusted HR 1.35, 95% CI 0.47-3.90). At 1 year, self-reported recovery occurred in 79.0% in imatinib and in 88.5% in SoC (RR 0.91, 0.78-1.06). We found no convincing difference in quality of life or symptoms. Fatigue (24%) and sleep issues (20%) frequently bothered patients at one year. In the meta-analysis, imatinib was associated with a mortality risk ratio of 0.73 (0.32-1.63; low certainty evidence). Conclusions: The evidence raises doubts regarding benefit of imatinib in reducing mortality, improving recovery and preventing long COVID symptoms in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The British Infection Association. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).