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A cheap, readily available steroid drug reduced deaths by a third in patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in a large study, the first time a therapy has been shown to possibly improve the odds of survival with the condition in the sickest patients. Full data from the study have not been published or subjected to scientific scrutiny. But outside experts on Tuesday immediately embraced the top-line results. The drug, dexamethasone, is widely available and is used to treat conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and some cancers. (Herper, 6/16)

If the finding is borne out, the drug, a steroid called dexamethasone, would be the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients. Had doctors been using the drug to treat the sickest Covid-19 patients in Britain from the beginning of the pandemic, up to 5,000 deaths could have been prevented, the researchers estimated. In severe cases, the virus directly attacks cells lining the patient’s airways and lungs. But the infection also can prompt an overwhelming immune reaction that is just as harmful. Three-quarters of hospitalized Covid-19 patients receive some form of oxygen. (Mueller and Rabin, 6/16)

British regulators speedily approved the drug for use in hospitalized patients requiring oxygen, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson trumpeted the results, declaring there was “genuine cause to celebrate a remarkable British scientific achievement and the benefits it will bring not just in this country but around the world.” (Adam, Beachum and Johnson, 6/16)

“Bottom line is, good news,” said the United States’ top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. “This is a significant improvement in the available therapeutic options that we have.” (Marchione, 6/16)

U.S. doctors said they wanted to see more detailed data, such as patients’ ages and pre-existing medical conditions, that may have factored into the survival advantage found by the study, and to learn about any side effects experienced by subjects. Yet doctors described the findings as remarkable given the failure of other treatments to reduce deaths from the disease. The Oxford researchers said that one life was saved for every eight ventilated patients treated with the drug. Such a ratio is “unheard of,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of California San Francisco. (Walker, 6/16)

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was moving to update its guidelines on treating people stricken with COVID-19 to reflect results of a clinical trial that showed a cheap, common steroid can help save critically ill patients. ... The WHO’s clinical guidance for treating patients infected with the new coronavirus is aimed at doctors and other medical professionals and seeks to use the latest data to inform clinicians on how best to tackle all phases of the disease, from screening to discharge. (6/17)

U.K. officials heralded the results, which have not yet been peer reviewed, as a breakthrough in the pandemic that has killed more than 430,000 people worldwide as of Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. “This is a ground-breaking development in our fight against the disease,” said the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, in a statement, adding that it is “particularly exciting as this is an inexpensive widely available medicine.” (Owermohle, 6/16)

Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, used to fight inflammation in other diseases, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital. British scientists announced the results and said they would work to publish full details as soon as possible. “We have been burned before, not just during the coronavirus pandemic but even pre-COVID, with exciting results that when we have access to the data are not as convincing,” said Dr. Kathryn Hibbert, director of the medical intensive care unit at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital. (Erman and Steenhuysen, 6/16)

The Food and Drug Administration’s abrupt decision this week to revoke an emergency waiver for two malaria drugs promoted by President Trump as potential “game changers” against the coronavirus has left 66 million doses stranded in the federal stockpile — and officials do not yet know what they will do with them. The F.D.A.’s withdrawal on Monday of its “emergency use authorization” for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine did not go over well at the White House, where top aides to Mr. Trump had rushed in March to fill the federal stockpile. That included accepting a donation from the pharmaceutical giant Bayer of three million tablets from a factory in Pakistan that had not been certified by the F.D.A. as safe. (Stolberg, 6/16)

A low-cost, widely used anti-inflammatory drug improved survival in patients with Covid-19, the first treatment to show life-saving promise months into the pandemic. Deaths among patients who needed breathing assistance were lower over a period of four weeks when they received the 60-year-old medicine dexamethasone, University of Oxford researchers said Tuesday. The study was stopped early because of its crucial findings. (Lauerman and Gale, 6/16)

Experts in Boston’s medical and academic community on Tuesday cautiously welcomed the announcement by researchers in England that a cheap, widely available steroid called dexamethasone can help people survive the deadly coronavirus. The drug reduced COVID-19 deaths by up to one-third in severely ill hospitalized patients, the researchers said, promising to publish their findings soon. (Finucane, 6/16)