New Delhi: Results released on Tuesday by the University of Oxford say that the use of the low-cost, anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone reduces death by up to one third in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID-19
The results, described as a “major breakthrough” by scientists leading the UK-led clinical trial known as RECOVERY, suggest the drug should immediately become standard care in patients treated in hospital with the pandemic disease, the researchers said.
A total of 2104 patients randomly received 6 mg of the drug once per day (either by mouth or by intravenous injection) for ten days and were compared with 4,321 patients randomised to usual care alone.
Among the patients who received usual care alone, 28-day mortality was highest in those who required ventilation (41%), intermediate in those patients who required oxygen only (25%), and lowest among those who did not require any respiratory intervention (13%).
Peter Horby, one of the Chief Investigators for the trial and a professor at Oxford University said: “Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID-19. This is an extremely welcome result. 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.”
There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus which has killed more than 4,31,000 globally.
