Scientists have discovered a cheap and widely available drug that can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with Coronavirus, said reports.
Scientists at the University of Oxford said on Tuesday that they have identified what they called the first drug proven to reduce coronavirus-related deaths. The experts held a 6,000-patient trial of the drug in the UK.
The steroid, dexamethasone, reduced deaths by a third in patients receiving ventilation, and by a fifth in patients receiving only oxygen treatment, according to the BBC.
“Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in Covid-19,” said Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the University of Oxford, said in a statement. “The survival benefit is clear and large in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment.”
Britain’s health secretary Matt Hancock said doctors would begin treating patients with the drug on Tuesday.
