Dexamethasone: Is This Drug Saving Covid-19 Patients?

There has been a rush to find a vaccine of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. Scientists in the UK have claimed that the generic steroid drug dexamethasone can reduce the deaths by up to one-third of the severely ill patients. 

Dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid is generally used to treat allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and cancer patients. The drug is provided orally or through an IV.

These steroid drugs reduce inflammation which occurs in critical Covid-19 patients, which overreacts the immune system to fight the infection. This overreaction may sometimes prove fatal and that’s why other inflammatory drugs are being tested. 

A study has also found that the drug won’t help the patients who are going through the initial stage of this viral infection or any patient who does not require respiratory support. 

Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and one of the Chief Investigators for the trial, 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 the standard of care in these patients."

The report by Oxford University stated the recovery of more than 11,500 patients, enrolling in over 175 hospitals across the UK.

During this course, 2,104 random patients were given 6 milligrammes of dexamethasone, orally or via injections, in a single dose per day, stretching to ten days. 

This test was compared with 4,321 random patients receiving normal care. The study found that dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients, and by one fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only.

The mortality rate in patients who required ventilation fell from 41 per cent to 28 per cent.

The investigators found that this generic drug could help by reducing deaths of about one-third in ventilated patients, and one fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only.

Considering the results it’s been believed that the drug could prevent one death in the treatment of around eight ventilated patients or about 25 patients requiring oxygen alone.

A parallel study in intermediate ill patients found that 20 per cent of them died when on dexamethasone.

Dexamethasone is a generic, cheap drug that can be used immediately and made available in large dosages by generic manufacturers like India.