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Three new studies strongly support using inexpensive and widely available drugs to treat people who are seriously ill with COVID-19. The drugs are steroids, and the research published Wednesday confirms they are proving to be the most effective treatment found to date. Initially, the use of these drugs in COVID-19 was controversial. Some doctors have long used steroids to treat conditions related to COVID-19, namely sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome. (Harris, 9/2)

The positive steroid findings — the result of a pooled look at data known as a meta-analysis — confirm a similar survival benefit reported in June from a single, large study. Corticosteroids are the first, and so far only, therapy shown to improve the odds of survival for critically ill patients with Covid-19. (Feuerstein, 9/2)

The World Health Organization, citing evidence from these and similar trials, announced Wednesday it strongly recommends doctors use the medications to combat severe or critical forms of disease caused by coronavirus infections. Finding a treatment that saves lives is “electrifying … it gives us hope. Maybe we’re gaining on this virus,” said Todd W. Rice, a critical care physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who was not involved in the studies. (Guarino, 9/2)

JAMA published that paper and three related studies, along with an editorial describing the research as an “important step forward in the treatment of patients with Covid-19.” Corticosteroids should now be the first-line treatment for critically ill patients, the authors said. The only other drug shown to be effective in seriously ill patients, and only modestly at that, is remdesivir. (Caryn Rabin, 9/2)