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Dexamethasone: A Promising Drug for COVID-19

Dexamethasone: A Promising Drug for COVID-19    

    Scientists and researchers around the world have been working hard to develop an effective drug/vaccine against COVID-19. (See vaccines and clinical trials) Several drugs have shown promising results including one named remdesivir. Another low-cost, common steroid, has shown encouraging results. A study published on July 17, 2020 in the New England Journal of Medicine, goes through the details and findings from this drug. The drug's name is Dexamethasone.

Background

    Dexamethasone isn't a newly developed drug. It was first synthesized in 1957 and has been used as an anti-inflammatory medication. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid; a drug that mimics cortisol, a natural hormone produced by the adrenal glands. When your body doesn't produce enough of this hormone, dexamethasone is often used to replace it. Dexamethasone relieves inflammation and is used to treat forms of arthritis, severe allergies, asthma and even certain types of cancers.

    The Experiment

    In a controlled clinical trial in the UK, 2,014 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 received a 10-day course of dexamethasone while 4,321 patients received normal COVID-19 care. After 28 days, 22.9% of patients receiving dexamethasone died and 25.7% of patients receiving normal care died. While this may not seem like a significant difference, researchers found a notable benefit for patients receiving ventilation on dexamethasone. Out of the patients on ventilation, 29.3% died receiving dexamethasone and 41% died receiving normal care. However, dexamethasone did not benefit patients with milder symptoms who were not receiving ventilation. In fact, patients with mild symptoms taking dexamethasone had a higher death rate (17.8%) than those patients receiving normal care (14%). 


  What this means

    The results of this study suggest that dexamethasone will only be beneficial to patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms receiving mechanical ventilation. After receiving a 10-day dose of dexamethasone, patients on mechanical ventilation had a 10% lower (28 day) death rate than patients without dexamethasone. However, patients that weren't on mechanical ventilation did not benefit from dexamethasone (17.8% mortality rate) compared to patients without mechanical ventilation receiving normal care (14% mortality rate). While these findings are only from the preliminary reports of the trial and more studies need to be conducted, dexamethasone shows promising effects for those with severe COVID-19 respiratory symptoms. 

  Sources

    1. Group*, The RECOVERY Collaborative, et al. “Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19 - Preliminary Report: NEJM.” New England Journal of Medicine, 17 July 2020, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2021436?query=featured_home
2. “Dexamethasone: MedlinePlus Drug Information.” MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682792.html.
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