British scientists have found that an inexpensive steroid would reduce mortality in the most severely ill by a third.
This Tuesday, the first results of the large British trial Recovery indicate that dexamethasone reduces by a third the mortality in patients most seriously affected by the new coronavirus. Information that is the joy of many media across the Channel.
2,104 patients received this treatment, 6 mg dexamethasone once a day (orally or intravenously) for 10 days. Study leaders then compared the analyzes to the other 4,321 patients who had not received it. For the latter, the 28-day mortality was highest among those who required mechanical respiratory assistance (41%), intermediate among those who required only oxygen (25%), and the lowest among those who did not require respiratory intervention (13%).
It would be the first drug "which is observed to improve survival in the event of Covid-19".
On the other hand, as AFP underlines, there was no benefit in taking this treatment for patients who did not need respiratory assistance.
Scientists say "one in eight deaths could be prevented" with this steroid drug "in patients on artificial ventilation".
The British Minister of Health has announced that the UK health services will immediately use dexamethasone to treat the disease.
"We are working with the NHS to include dexamethasone as part of its standard treatment for Covid-19 starting this afternoon," said Matt Hancock in a video posted on his Twitter account.
"This is a major step forward in the quest for new ways to treat Covid patients", said in a statement Prof. Stephen Powis, medical director of the NHS, the British public health service.
"The survival benefit is significant in patients who are sick enough to need oxygen, for whom dexamethasone should now become the basic treatment. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, already on the market and can be used immediately to save lives around the world "said one of the people in charge of the Recovery test, Professor Peter Horby, of the University of Oxford.
Dexamethasone is already used in many indications for its powerful anti-inflammatory effect.
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