In a statement released Tuesday evening, the Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the organization will soon update its guidelines for the treatment of people with COVID-19. An update that would reflect the results of a clinical trial, which showed that the dexamethasone, could save critically ill patients. The trial would have been done as part of RECOVERY, with 11,500 patients in 175 public health centers in England.
Hope for the seriously ill
The dexamethasone is a steroid used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in various conditions, including inflammatory disorders and certain cancers. It has been on the WHO list of essential medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations, and is currently patent-free and available at an affordable price in most countries.
In March 2020, the test RECOVERY ( Randomized Evaluation of THEid-19 thISapAND ) or ”Random evaluation of COVid-19 therapywas established as a randomized clinical trial to test a range of potential treatments for COVID-19, including dexamethasone in low doses. More than 11,500 patients had been recruited for this purpose from more than 175 hospitals in United Kingdom.
A total of 2,104 patients had received 6 mg dexamethasone once daily, orally or by intravenous injection for ten days; when 4,321 patients had received only usual care. Race results: dexamethasone had reduced deaths by a third for patients on respirators and a fifth for patients whose condition required only oxygen supply. With no notable benefit recorded in patients who had not required respiratory assistance.
WHO updates …
So this Tuesday, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO said: ” It is the first treatment to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or a ventilator ” He added in substance: ” This is great news and I congratulate the UK government, the University of Oxford and the many UK hospitals and patients who have contributed to this vital scientific breakthrough ” In fact, and according to the director, WHO would update its guidelines for the treatment of people with COVID-19 to reflect the results.
Pending full analysis of the study data, Dr. Ghebreyesus had pointed out that the WHO guidelines were primarily intended for doctors and other health professionals. And that these clinical orientations had for main vocation to use the last data to inform the clinicians on the best way to fight against all the phases of the disease, of the screening to the release of the patient.
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