On Apr. 3, 2020, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine started treating very sick COVID-19 patients as part of a multicenter trial evaluating a potential therapy for the new disease. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tess whether sarilumab, a drug already approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis, can halt the inflammation that can overwhelm the lungs of COVID-19 patients. A similar drug yielded promising results in a study involving patients in China.