Findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) COVID-19 and Cancer meeting have suggested that drugs targeting CD20, such as rituximab and obinutuzumab, were associated with severe COVID-19 disease in patients with lymphoma.

Researchers noted that among more than 100 lymphoma patients who were admitted in hospital for COVID-19 in France, those receiving treatment with the B-cell-depleting therapies during the previous year had a heightened risk for longer stay in the hospital (HR 1.97, 95% CI 1.24-3.13, P=0.004) as well as death (HR 2.13, 95% CI 1.03-4.44, P=0.043), after adjustment for age and other factors. Around 29% of the patients had persistent COVID-19, which required hospital stay of over 30 days (either consecutively or cumulatively), and a median symptom duration of 83 days… (Medpage Today)