Dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for critically ill COVID-19 patients and should be reserved for serious cases, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. According to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, initial clinical trial results at last provided “green shoots of hope” in treating the coronavirus, which has so claimed more than 400,000 lives worldwide and infected more than 8 million.
Dexamethasone is a generic drug that has been in use since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in a range of conditions, including inflammatory disorders and certain cancers. The corticosteroid, according to the researchers in Britain, can reduce the mortality rate by one third in severely ill coronavirus patients.
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However, the benefit was not observed in COVID-19 patients who were not critically ill.
“This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is great news and I congratulate the Government of the UK, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.”
It has been listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations, and is currently off-patent and affordably available in most countries.
However, countries now want to ensure enough dosage of the steroid. Britain Health Minister Matt Hancock said that they have increased the amount of dexamethasone it has in stock.
Meanwhile, some doctors are still cautious of the steroid and want to see more data before starting full-fledged use of the steroid.
Methylprednisolone, a steroid similar to dexamethasone but less potent, has been used on patients in Sweden since March. The standard practice started after a coronavirus patient started showing signs of recovery. He had shown no signs of recovery with other treatments, said Lars Falk of the New Karolinska Hospital.
