Dexamethasone: Cheap drug shows results in COVID patients

Key facts:-

• Indian doctors have said the reported success of dexamethasone — an inexpensive steroid that retails for less than ₹10 for 10 ml and is made by several Indian manufacturers — in saving the lives of COVID­19 patients on ventilators is good news for the country.
• Scientists administering the WHO­administered RECOVERY trial, the largest global clinical trial that is checking the ability of several repurposed drugs to treat COVID-­19 reported that dexamethasone reduced deaths by one­third in ventilated patients and by one-­fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only. There was no benefit among those patients who did not require respiratory support.
• It is a cheaper option than tocilizumab
• Based on these results, one death would be prevented by treatment of around eight ventilated patients or around 25 patients requiring oxygen alone, scientists said. 
• A scientific study with details on how the study was conducted and evaluations made isn’t yet available and the preliminary results were communicated via a press statement.
• Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID­19. 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 the standard of care in these patients. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide
• Tocilizumab is also being tested as part of the RECOVERY trial and is an injectible. Dexamethasone and tocilizumab are not anti­virals but work to modulate the immune response of the body when confronted by a viral infection such as COVID­-19
• the Indian Council for Medical Research revised the protocol for clinical management of COVID­19 and allowed the use of remdesivir, tocilizumab, and convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) on certain groups of patients. 
• Remdesivir, a patented drug by U.S.­based Gilead Life Sciences, reduced hospital stays for very sick COVID patients but has not been shown to improve recovery itself

Source: The Hindu