Dexamethasone might help reduce mortality in severe COVID19 cases

Dexamethasone might help reduce mortality in severe COVID19 cases

19 June 2020

Among the first results from the Recovery trial, one is particularly interesting: a cheap and widely produced steroid called dexamethasone appears to reduce deaths by one third in critically ill patients. Recovery is one of the biggest randomised controlled trial to evaluate existing drugs to treat COVID19 patients. Another interesting finding from the clinical trial in the UK was that patients receiving oxygen therapy but not on ventilators saw their risk of dying dropping by 20%. The treatment at the doses tested might help control aberrant or hyperactive inflammatory response. Finally, it is easy to administrate and could help in a situation where the only other drug showing benefits in randomised, controlled clinical trial to treat COVID19, the anti-viral Remdesivir, is currently in short supply.

Links: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01824-5

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/cheap-steroid-first-drug-shown-reduce-death-covid-19-patients

Recovery trial: https://www.recoverytrial.net/

Modification date : 31 July 2023 | Publication date : 19 June 2020 | Redactor : Morgane Delavergne