June 16, 2020

Coronavirus breakthrough: dexamethasone is first drug shown to save lives

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• Researchers leading the RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY) trial at Oxford University released a statement today distributed widely by media outlets indicating that their trial found that the steroid dexamethasone reduced deaths in ventilated patients (RR=0.65; 95% CI: 0.48, 0.88) and in other patients receiving oxygen only (RR=0.80; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.96). The trial has not been published, but was featured in a news article by the journal Nature cited below. 

Ledford. (June 16, 2020). Coronavirus breakthrough: dexamethasone is first drug shown to save lives. Nature. [news article] https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01824-5