Daily US Times: A widely available and cheap drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. UK experts found the low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus.
The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus,
The drug cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators and ror the patients on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth.
Researchers said 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 by it and it could be of huge benefit in poorer countries with high numbers of coronavirus patients.
The UK government has 200,000 courses of the drug in its stockpile and says the NHS will make dexamethasone available to patients.
About 19 out of 20 coronavirus patients recover without being admitted to hospital. Those who are admitted to hospitals, most also recover but some may need oxygen or mechanical ventilation.
And these are the high-risk patients dexamethasone appears to help. The drug is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of other conditions.
The drug appears to help some of the damage that can happen when body’s immune system goes into overdrive – which can be deadly- as it tries to fight off coronavirus.
The trial was led by a team from Oxford University, about 2,000 hospital patients were given dexamethasone and compared with more than 4,000 who were not.
The teams findings show: For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40% to 28% and or patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25% to 20%.
This is the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality – and it reduces it significantly. It’s a major breakthrough,” chief investigator Prof Peter Horby said.
Lead researcher Prof Martin Landray said the findings suggested one life could be saved for:
- every eight patients on a ventilator
- every 20-25 treated with oxygen
He said: “There is a clear, clear benefit.”
“The treatment is up to 10 days of dexamethasone and it costs about £5 per patient. So essentially it costs £35 to save a life. This is a drug that is globally available.”
Prof Landray said hospital patients should now be given it without delay, when appropriate situation comes, but people should not go out and buy it to take at home.
Dexamethasone does not appear to help people with milder symptoms of coronavirus who do not need help with their breathing.
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