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Finally a piece of good news for COVID-19 patients. A recent study on Dexamethasone has found that it will help to decrease the risk of death in COVID-19 patients. Dexamethasone Is a corticosteroid medication that is cheap and widely available. The result of this new trial suggests that the drug should become standard cure in COVID-19 severe patients.
On Tuesday, “Randomized Evaluation of COVid-19 Therapy” Has announced the result of the trial on their official site.
They announced that the drug could reduce the risk of death by one-third in patients with ventilation and by 20% in patients receiving oxygen. This drug was not effective in patients who did not receive oxygen support. Based on the results, the study says this drug saves many more lives.
About The Study
RECOVERY or Randomized Evaluation of COVid-19 Therapy was first established in March. It was a randomized clinical trial to test a range of potential treatments for COVID-19. Approximately 11,500 patients were enrolled for this trail from over 175 NHS hospitals in the U.K.
Of these, 2,104 patients were selected who were given Dexamethasone 6 mg daily for 10 days (either by mouth or by intravenous injection). After ten days they were compared with other 4,321 patients, who were being given normal treatment. The 28-day mortality rate was highest among patients receiving normal care alone who needed ventilation (41%), intermediate those who needed only oxygen (25%), and those who did not require respiratory intervention the lowest (13%). The team is working to release the full details as soon as possible.
On June 8, the recruitment of the dexamethasone group was terminated because, in the opinion of the trial steering committee, enough patients had been recruited to determine whether the drug had a meaningful benefit.
What do people say about this study?
Peter Horby, MD, PhD, professor of emerging infectious diseases in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and one of the chief investigators for the RECOVERY trial says that
“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.”
Martin Landray, PhD, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, and one of the chief investigators of RECOVERY says that;
“Since the appearance of COVID-19 six months ago, the search has been on for treatments that can improve survival, particularly in the sickest patients,”
“These preliminary results from the RECOVERY trial are very clear—dexamethasone reduces the risk of death among patients with severe respiratory complications. COVID-19 is a global disease—it is fantastic that the first treatment demonstrated to reduce mortality is one that is instantly available and affordable worldwide.”
Chris Whitty, DSc, England’s chief medical officer and the Department of Health and Social Care’s chief scientific adviser says that
“This is the most important trial result for COVID-19 so far, – Significiant reduction in mortality in those requiring oxygen or ventilation from a widely available, safe, and well-known drug. Many thanks to those who took part and made it happen. It will save lives around the world.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, WHO director-general.
This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support, – “This is great news and I congratulate the Government of the U.K., the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the U.K. who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.”
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