The reason for this Phase 3 study is to see if the drug baricitinib is effective in hospitalized 1585 participants with COVID-19.

Results 

On August 3, 2021 Eli Lilly and Incyte announced results from an additional cohort of 101 adult patients from the COV-BARRIER trial. In this sub-study, patients with COVID-19 on mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) who received baricitinib plus standard of care were 46 percent less likely to die by Day 28 compared to patients who received placebo plus standard of care (nominal p-value=0.0296; hazard ratio [HR] [95% CI] = 0.54 [0.31, 0.96]; analysis not adjusted for multiplicity). The cumulative proportion of patients who died by Day 28 was 39.2 percent (n/N: 20/51) in the baricitinib arm versus 58 percent in the placebo arm (n/N: 29/50). Similar mortality benefit was observed by Day 60 (HR [96% CI] = 0.56 [0.33, 0.97]) with a cumulative proportion of death of 45.1 percent (n/N: 23/51) for baricitinib compared to 62.0 percent for placebo (n/N: 31/50).

These findings are consistent with the reduction in mortality observed in the overall COV-BARRIER patient population.