UK experts have discovered that a cheap and widely available drug could cut the risk of death by a third for patients suffering with the coronavirus.
Dexamethasone can help save the lives of those seriously ill with Covid-19 by cutting the risk by a third for people relying on ventilators and for those being treated with oxygen, the risk of death was cut by a fifth.
This has been considered by medical experts a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus and the UK Government has said that drug is now available across all NHS healthcare settings with immediate effect.
According to the BBC, the drug is part of the world's biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.
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It's been estimated that if it were available at the beginning of the pandemic then it could have saved up to 5,000 lives and with it being relatively cheap it could have helped poor countries struggling with patients.
Dexamethasone, a low-dose steroid treatment, is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of conditions and is believed to help the body's immune system from going into overdrive as it attempts to fight off Covid-19.
In a recent trial, led by an Oxford University team, around 2,000 patients were given the drug and were compared with over 4,000 people who weren't given it.
For those on ventilation, the risk of death dropped from 40 percent to 28 percent and for patients needing oxygen it cut the risk of death from 25 percent to 20 percent.
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One of the chief investigators for the trial, Professor Peter Horby, said: "Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID-19. This is an extremely welcome result.
"The survival benefit is clear and large in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment, so dexamethasone should now become standard of care in these patients.
"Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide."
Martin Landray, another Chief Investigator, added: "Since the appearance of Covid-19 six months ago, the search has been on for treatments that can improve survival, particularly in the sickest patients.
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"These preliminary results from the RECOVERY trial are very clear - dexamethasone reduces the risk of death among patients with severe respiratory complications.
"Covid-19 is a global disease - it is fantastic that the first treatment demonstrated to reduce mortality is one that is instantly available and affordable worldwide."
Featured Image Credit: PA