Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
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Tocilizumab has been repurposed against the 'cytokine storm' in the setting of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of tocilizumab in the management of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. We searched MEDLINE, CENTRAL and medRxiv for studies of tocilizumab in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. ⋯ Tocilizumab improved mortality both in ICU and non-ICU patients. Reduction in mortality was evident in observational studies regardless of the use of systemic corticosteroids, while that was not the case in the RCTs. Tocilizumab was associated with lower mortality and other clinically relevant outcomes in hospitalized patients with moderate-to-critical COVID-19.