Clinical trials led by Oxford University claim to have found a successful remedy for COVID-19 in a cheap and readily available drug called ‘dexamethasone’
In what seems to be a major breakthrough in the pursuit of finding a successful treatment for the coronavirus, scientists at Oxford University have reached a consensus that the low-dose usage of ‘dexamethasone’, a commonly available steroid, is able to reduce death rates in severely affected COVID-19 patients. It is said to cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth. Researches have opined that this drug could have saved more than 5,000 lives in the UK had it been used from the start of the pandemic to treat the patients.
Chief Investigator of the trial from Oxford University, Prof. Peter Horby, has said that dexamethasone has emerged successful in significantly reducing mortality rates in patients on ventilators and oxygen-support. While dexamethasone has been a standard issue for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and asthma since the 1960s, its life-saving properties in the treatment of the coronavirus is a recent discovery.
Another drug that is widely considered to be useful in the treatment of the coronavirus is hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug which is generally used to treat arthritis and auto-immune conditions. This drug has shown immense promise in treating some of the symptoms of the patients suffering from COVID-19. Donald Trump, the President of the United States had earlier announced on 19 March that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine/Plaquenil, used to treat malaria and arthritis, were approved by the FDA to be tested as a treatment for the extremely contagious coronavirus. Earlier, the drug Tocilizumab has also been used on approximately 40 COVID-19 patients in Mumbai in all of the critical cases. Encouraging results have been witnessed in more than 30 patients, with 14 patients having already been recovered and discharged from the hospital.
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