An attempt by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche to retool its rheumatoid arthritis drug tocilizumab to treat patients with severe coronavirus-related pneumonia has failed in a late-stage trial, the company has announced.

The 452-patient COVACTA trial was launched in March as Roche joined other pharmaceutical companies seeking to repurpose existing medicines to fight the pandemic.

In the trial, there was no difference in mortality rates after four weeks between patients who took tocilizumab and those who did not.

The “COVACTA trial did not meet its primary end-point of improved clinical status in patients with COVID-19 associated pneumonia, or the key secondary end-point of reduced patient mortality,” a Roche spokesperson said.