LONDON: UK researchers today (Tuesday) have claimed that they have found the first life-saving drug for critical coronavirus patients.
According to the trial data, giving low doses of the generic steroid drug dexamethasone to COVID-19 patients reduced death rates by around a third among those with the most severe cases of infection.
The UK researches suggest that the drug should immediately become standard care in patients treated in hospital with the pandemic disease.
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. The drug is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of other conditions
Oxford University professor, Martin Landray said, “This is a result that shows that if patients who have Covid-19 and are on ventilators or are on oxygen are given dexamethasone, it will save lives, and it will do so at a remarkably low cost.”
His co-lead investigator, Peter Horby, said dexamethasone is “the only drug that’s so far shown to reduce mortality – and it reduces it significantly. It is a major breakthrough.”
There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19, which has killed more than 431,000 around the globe.
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