Eli Lilly and Incyte's arthritis drug baricitinib helped reduce the risk of death in hospitalised Covid-19 patients by 13 per cent, regardless of which other coronavirus treatment they were given, according to a large British study.

Over 8,000 patients were administered baricitinib in addition to usual care, at random, or usual care alone, as part of the so-called RECOVERY trial, scientists from the University of Oxford said, according to Reuters.

Results showed 546 patients in the usual care group died within 28 days but only 513 patients in the baricitinib group died where they were also given a corticosteroid like dexamethasone, tocilizumab or remdesivir.