First drug to boost COVID-19 survival rate found
News | C. J. Palpal-latoc
Editor’s note: Dexamethasone has been shown to benefit severely ill patients. It is not a vaccine (so it will not turn you immune from the coronavirus). A doctor’s prescription is required to take it.
Dexamethasone — a steroid used for treating inflammation and allergic reactions — has been found to improve survival rates of COVID-19 patients on ventilators in a large trial, according to a press release published by the University of Oxford on June 16.
The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial found that low-dose dexamethasone can reduce deaths by up to one-third for patients on ventilators and up to one-fifth for those receiving oxygen.
The results have a statistical significance at the 1% level (p = 0.0003 for the one-third result and p = 0.0021 for the one-fifth). This means that the probability that the improved survival rate was due to random chance is very low, suggesting that the drug actually worked.
Martin Landray, one of the chief investigators of RECOVERY and a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, said that “these preliminary results are clear — dexamethasone reduces the risk of death among patients with severe respiratory complications.”
Peter Horby, another chief investigator and a professor of infectious diseases also at Oxford, said that this is “the first drug … to improve survival in COVID-19.”
Antiviral drug remdesivir was the first to be shown to help COVID-19 patients in a large trial, but it did not affect the death rate significantly. Dexamethasone is the first to do so.
The RECOVERY trial was established this March to search for potential COVID-19 treatments and was administered by thousands of medical professionals spread over 175 hospitals in the United Kingdom. Over 11,500 patients were involved in the trial.
Aside from dexamethasone, other types of medicine were also considered including HIV treatment lopinavir-ritonavir, antibiotic azithromycin and even the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine (which was later revoked in the trial).
Dexamethasone is a prescription medicine and according to a Philippine online drug store, a four-milligram tablet costs only ₱31.50. Landray said that it is “fantastic” that this medicine is “instantly available and affordable worldwide.”
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