UK researchers have found that a cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus.
The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus.
In March 2020, the RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY) trial was established as a randomised clinical trial to test a range of potential treatments for COVID-19, including low-dose dexamethasone . Over 11,500 patients have been enrolled from over 175 NHS hospitals in the UK.
A total of 2104 patients were randomised to receive dexamethasone 6 mg once per day (either by mouth or by intravenous injection) for ten days and were compared with 4321 patients randomised to usual care alone.
Dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients,and by one fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only.
There was no benefit among those patients who did not require respiratory support.
Given the public health importance of these results, the researchers are now working to publish the full details as soon as possible.
Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID-19.
The researchers say that the survival benefit is clear and large in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment, so dexamethasone should now become standard of care in these patients. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide.
And, according to the the researchers, had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved.
News Source: Oxford
