Major breakthrough in treatment

[Redolent]

A cheap steroid has become the first life-saving treatment in the Covid-19 pandemic, described by scientists as a major breakthrough and raising hopes for the survival of thousands of the most seriously ill.

Dexamethasone is cheap, available from any pharmacy, and easily obtainable anywhere in the world. Investigators said the drug was responsible for the survival of one in eight of the sickest patients – those who were on ventilators – in the Recovery trial, the biggest randomised, controlled trial of coronavirus treatments in the world.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/16/steroid-found-to-help-prevent-deaths-of-sickest-coronavirus-patients

Apparently it would have saved the lives of 5000 of those who died in the UK.

Great start in terms of treatment. Some scientists are predicting an effective cocktail of (3 or so) drugs available by the end of the year. Onwards and upwards.

Fantastic news, and good that it's so cheap.

Great news.

Great news

This is potentially huge. More and more successes like this give me enormous hope that we will have a range of options to live with COVID-19 even if the vaccine never gets approved. Then we can turn our much needed attention to the economy, education and all the other health issues that have been ignored for the last 3 months.

Excellent news. So many drug treatments in trial and I am so glad that we have found one (off hopefully many more) that can help treat patients.

Saw this earlier. It's brilliant.

Excellent news! Cheap and readily available. Will be really good news across the world.

Fingers crossed.
This is the most hopeful thing I've read lately.

Brilliant news!

They use steroids for flare ups in inflammatory conditions don't they - which seems to be how this works.

Good news indeed.

I wonder if this might even keep people out of hospital if it was given early enough.

As seems to prevent major inflammation in the lungs

There was a bbc article a while ago, I have just looked but cant find it. They anticipated that in the future if you tested positive you would pick up a prescription of a steroid, antibiotic and antiviral with the hope of preventing a severe case

This is amazing news! The only thing that I’m surprised by is how long this took. I realise people medicine works differently and requires more testing but my DH who is a vet said months ago, right at the start of this, that the first drug he would try to treat this with was Dexamethasone.

I wonder if this might even keep people out of hospital if it was given early enough. As seems to prevent major inflammation in the lungs

In the research so far it has only been beneficial to people being mechanically ventilated or on oxygen therapy. Others didn't show a benefit. Although, I suppose further research could investigate the effects of treatment on recovery and function in survivors.

This is great news and a real breakthrough.

I think the inflammatory response to this disease in some individuals is what needs to be studied. And treatments focused on.

We have been viewing this disease as mainly respiratory and from what I have been reading, where the problems arise is the inflammation which can cause vascular problems. This is why ventilation hasn’t been so successful. We need to get on top of the inflammation and the potential problems this causes, such as blood clots leading to strokes.

It looks like we are starting to focus on this area which is great.

I also agree we need to try and intervene earlier with these drugs. Once on a ventilator the odds aren’t great. We need much earlier intervention and recognition of the issues COVID can cause.

A friend was being turned away from A&E. They had had COVID symptoms but not confirmed back in March. Splitting head ache since. Had to really push for a scan only to find blood clots. If they had just gone home the outcome could have been so different. We need earlier and more proactive action rather than sending people home to suffer with symptoms.

No wonder our death rate is so high.

Please please do not start taking Dexamethasone to treat mild cases - it’s v potent drug & can cause long term issues and may also prevent your body’s Important immune response during early stage of disease.
The thread below is excellent read to put the BBC story in context
twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1272899557467271169?s=21

This is fantastic!

Can anyone explain for me, my mum is shielding due to taking high dose steroids for an auto immune condition. But here they’ve found steroids reduces the chance of dying? Does this mean my mum is actually at less risk?! Or am I just not understanding the science/medicine here?

No wonder our death rate is so high
Way to be negative. You do realise it was a BRITISH team that made this discovery, right?

Yes. This is a real British success story, a well-designed and wide ranging trial that will help inform treatment across the world. Before everyone was learning on the job and doing their best. Hopefully this will be followed by many more insights into treatment.

Bol87
I wondered that, Mum has vasculitus and takes Dexamethasone.

I didn’t mean to derail a positive thread.

I hope it will change treatment protocol and people will receive better, earlier intervention. That was my point. Things may change for the better now. We were intervening too late
and yes this is a breakthrough.

@Bol87 I'd guess different steroids and a different dose?

Very welcome progress of benefit to the world. Well done to the medics, scientists and families in the trial who together have made this breakthrough.