So what is Dexamethasone? All you need to know about the drug

So what is Dexamethasone? All you need to know about the drug

AgenciesUpdated: Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 03:51 PM IST
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Photo Credit: AFP

While world struggles to control the spread of coronavirus, researchers in England say they have the first evidence that a drug can improve COVID-19 survival: A steroid called dexamethasone reduced deaths by up to one third in severely ill hospitalized patients.

Low doses of the steroid dexamethasone can reduce deaths by one-third in ventilated COVID-19 patients, according to researchers who assessed the performance of the inexpensive drug in more than 2,100 patients.

The analysis is part of the RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY) trial which was established to test a range of potential therapies for COVID-19, including low-dose dexamethasone -- a steroid treatment.

So what is dexamethasone?

"Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID-19. This is an extremely welcome result," said Peter Horby, one of the chief investigators of the trial from the University of Oxford in the UK.

"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," Horby said. The drug, according to the scientists, is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide.

The University of Oxford on Tuesday released results of the Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY (RECOVERY) trial which said that dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients and by one fifth in other patients receiving only oxygen. However, there was no benefit seen in patients who did not require respiratory support.

"Overall dexamethasone reduced the 28-day mortality rate by 17 per cent with a highly significant trend showing greatest benefit among those patients requiring ventilation," it said.

They found that dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients, and by one fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only.

However, the researchers said there was no benefit from dexamethasone among the patients who did not require respiratory support. Based on these results, the scientists believe that the drug could prevent nearly one death in the treatment of around eight ventilated patients, or around 25 patients requiring oxygen alone.

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