Rohit Shishodia

The World Health Organization (WHO) has lauded the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom that show that dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for critically ill Covid patients.

The WHO has stated that as per findings of the use of dexamethasone for patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth.

The WHO has pointed out that the benefit of the drug was only seen in patients seriously ill with the deadly virus, and was not observed in patients with milder disease.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said, “This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with Covid-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support."  He added, “This is great news and I congratulate the Government of the UK, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.

Dexamethasone is a steroid that has been used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in a range of conditions, including inflammatory disorders and certain cancers. It has been listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations, and is currently off-patent and affordably available in most countries.

The UN agency has said that the researchers shared initial insights about the results of the trial with WHO. “We are looking forward to the full data analysis in the coming days. WHO will coordinate a meta-analysis to increase our overall understanding of this intervention. WHO clinical guidance will be updated to reflect how and when the drug should be used in Covid-19,” said the WHO.