Great news! 'Dexamethasone can save lives of Covid-19 patients'
- IndiaGlitz, [Wednesday,June 17 2020]
Scientists may have found a life-saving drug that can treat Covid-19 patients with efficacy. Its name is Dexamethasone. An inexpensive, generic steroid, this one has been found to be highly effective in saving the lives of critically-ill coronavirus patients.
A team of researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK has reportedly discovered, after conducting RCT trials, that dexamethasone reduces deaths by up to 1/3rd in critically-ill Covid-19 patients.
BBC, which first broke the news, said, The drug cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth. Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers say.
The British government is proud of the achievement of its scientific community. It started stockpiling dexamethasone several months ago because it was hopeful about the potential of the drug, and now has 200,000 doses on hand, New York Times reported.
The wide availability of this off-patent drug is the best news. Countries like India can have access to the generic drug to treat Covid-19 patients with ease.