Coronavirus: Potent Treatment Discovered

The end is now in sight for the deadly Coronavirus as the World Health Organization (WHO) discovers a potent treatment.

The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly coronavirus, UK experts say.

The drug is part of the world’s biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.

Research reveals that dexamethasone cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth.

The UK government has 200,000 courses of the drug in its stockpile and says the NHS will make dexamethasone available to patients.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was a genuine case to celebrate “a remarkable British scientific achievement”, adding: “We have taken steps to ensure we have enough supplies, even in the event of a second peak.”

Chief Medical Officer for England Prof Chris Whitty said it would save lives around the world.

The drug is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of other conditions, including arthritis, asthma and some skin conditions.

And it appears to help stop some of the damage that can happen when the body’s immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight off coronavirus.

In the trial, 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.

For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40% to 28%.

For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25% to 20%.

Chief investigator Prof Peter Horby said: “This is the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality – and it reduces it significantly. It’s a major breakthrough.”

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

“There is a clear, clear benefit,” he said.

“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.”

When appropriate, hospital patients should now be given it without delay, Prof Landray said.

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.

The Recovery Trial, running since March, also looked at the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which has subsequently been ditched amid concerns it increases fatalities and heart problems.

Dexamethasone has been used since the early 1960s to treat a wide range of conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.

The discovery us of Dexamethasone as a potent treatment to reduce the risk of Covid-19 is a huge scientific breakthrough.

The South African Minister for Health, Dr Zwelini Mkhize as declared the country’s readiness to administer Dexamethasone to Covid-19 patients.

The Minister said, “Our health care workers are very familiar with dexamethasone, having used it for decades as a registered medicine in South Africa. We are immediately able to offer all patients that need intravenous dexamethasone.”

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has also called on frontline clinicians to consider the use of dexamethasone in the treatment of COVID-19 across the country.

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