Cheap steroid found to reduce coronavirus deaths is available on NHS
It costs £5 and can reduce the risk of death for ventilated patients by 35%.
A cheap steroid that reduces the number of coronavirus deaths is available on the NHS, Boris Johnson has confirmed.
Speaking at today’s daily press conference, the Prime Minister said dexamethasone, which has been around for about 60 years, will now be given to patients who are currently battling Covid-19 in hospital. It can reduce the risk of death by up to 35%.
Professor Peter Horby, an epidemiologist from the University of Oxford, went on to say the drug was ‘extremely cheap’ and produced ‘remarkable’ results in those with coronavirus treated as part of a study.
He said: ‘The drug has a different treatment effect in different treatment groups. In ventilated patients with covid, after 10 days of treatment through tablet or injection, the drug reduces the risk of death by about 35%.
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‘In patients on the wards who require oxygen and have covid, it reduces the risk of death by about 20%. This covers about 75% of patients in hospital who will receive a mortality benefit from using this drug.’
Professor Horby added that dexamethasone is also ‘very widely available’ and on ‘almost every pharmacy shelf in every hospital’. He said roughly one in eight intensive care patients will survive coronavirus due to the drug, with the total cost of all their treatment coming to £40.
More than 11,500 patients from 175 NHS hospitals were enrolled on the Recovery trial since it was set up in March to test a range of potential coronavirus treatments. It was co-ordinated by scientists from the University of Oxford.
In the dexamethasone study, 2,104 patients received 6mg of dexamethasone once a day by mouth or intravenous injection for 10 days, before their outcomes were compared with a control group of 4,321 patients.
Today Johnson began the daily press briefing by praising British scientists for discovering what he described as ‘the biggest breakthrough yet’ in the treatment of coronavirus.
He said: ‘I am proud they have led the first robust clinical trial anywhere to find a coronavirus treatment proven to reduce the risk of death. I’m very grateful to the thousands of patients in this country who volunteered for the trials.
‘This drug can now be made available across the NHS. We’ve taken steps to ensure we have enough supplies even in the event of a second peak.
‘While the chances of dying from Covid-19 have been greatly reduced by this treatment, they’re still far too high, so we must redouble our research efforts – and we will. But today there is genuine cause to celebrate a genuine scientific treatment, not just in this country but around the world.’
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