By Stephen Nakrosis

Eli Lilly and Co. and Incyte on Thursday said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Baricitinib to treat hospitalized patients with Covid-19.

The EUA "enables use of baricitinib in combination with remdesivir in hospitalized patients needing oxygen," the companies said.

The EUA is based on data from the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, the companies said. Among the findings, the companies said were that "patients treated with baricitinib in combination with remdesivir had a significant reduction in median time to recovery from 8 to 7 days compared to remdesivir," and "patients treated with baricitinib in combination with remdesivir were more likely to have a better clinical status at Day 15 compared to patients treated with remdesivir."

Baricitinib is an oral JAK inhibitor that was discovered by Incyte and licensed to Lilly, the companies said.

--Write to Stephen Nakrosis at stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-19-20 1759ET