Oxford trial shows low-cost drug reduces death by up to one third of patients with severe complications of COVID-19

The results of a trial run by Oxford University come from 2104 patients who were randomised to receive the drug for ten days. These were compared to 4,321 patients who did not take the drug but received usual care alone.

Among the patients who received usual care alone, 28-day mortality was highest in those who required ventilation (41 per cent), intermediate in patients who required oxygen only (25 per cent) and lowest among those who did not require any respiratory intervention (13 per cent).

Dexamethasone reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients and by one fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only. There was no benefit among patients who did not require respiratory support.

Based on these results, one death would be prevented by treatment of around eight ventilated patients or around 25 patients requiring oxygen alone.

Given the public health importance of these results, the researchers are now working to publish full details as soon as possible.

Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and one of the Chief Investigators for the trial, said: ‘Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID-19. This is an extremely welcome result.

"The survival benefit is clear and large in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment, so dexamethasone should now become standard of care in these patients. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide.’

Martin Landray, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, one of the Chief Investigators, said: ‘Since the appearance of COVID-19 six months ago, the search has been on for treatments that can improve survival, particularly in the sickest patients.

"These preliminary results from the RECOVERY trial are very clear - dexamethasone reduces the risk of death among patients with severe respiratory complications. COVID-19 is a global disease - it is fantastic that the first treatment demonstrated to reduce mortality is one that is instantly available and affordable worldwide."

The UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said, 'This is tremendous news today from the Recovery trial showing that dexamethasone is the first drug to reduce mortality from COVID-19.

"It is particularly exciting as this is an inexpensive widely available medicine. This is a ground-breaking development in our fight against the disease, and the speed at which researchers have progressed finding an effective treatment is truly remarkable. It shows the importance of doing high quality clinical trials and basing decisions on the results of those trials.'

The RECOVERY trial is a large, randomised controlled trial of possible treatments for patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Over 11,500 patients from over 175 NHS hospitals in the UK. have been randomised to the following treatment arms, or no additional treatment.