Coronavirus

Grant Schapps is the former Housing Minister, who just happens to have bought up over 40 ex council homes in Westminster

 

people vote for this constant corruption.....fking repulsive it is

 

A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus.

The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say.

The drug is part of the world's biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.

It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth.

Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers say.

And it could be of huge benefit in poorer countries with high numbers of Covid-19 patients.

• Latest coronavirus updates

About 19 out of 20 patients with coronavirus recover without being admitted to hospital. Of those who are admitted to hospital, most also recover, but some may need oxygen or mechanical ventilation. These are the high-risk patients whom dexamethasone appears to help.

The drug is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of other conditions, and it appears that it helps stop some of the damage that can happen when the body's immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight off coronavirus.

The body's over-reaction is called a cytokine storm and it can be deadly.

In the trial, led by a team from Oxford University, around 2,000 hospital patients were given dexamethasone and were compared with more than 4,000 who did not receive the drug.

For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40% to 28%. For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25% to 20%.

Chief investigator Prof Peter Horby said: "This is the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality - and it reduces it significantly. It's a major breakthrough."

Lead researcher Prof Martin Landray says the findings suggest that for every eight patients treated on ventilators, you could save one life.

For those patients treated with oxygen, you save one life for approximately every 20-25 treated with the drug.

"There is a clear, clear benefit. The treatment is up to 10 days of dexamethasone and it costs about £5 per patient. So essentially it costs £35 to save a life. This is a drug that is globally available."

Prof Landray said, when appropriate, hospital patients should now be given it without delay, but people should not go out and buy it to take at home.

Dexamethasone does not appear to help people with milder symptoms of coronavirus - those who don't need help with their breathing.

The Recovery Trial has been running since March. It included the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine which has subsequently been ditched amid concerns that it increases fatalities and heart problems.

Another drug called remdesivir, an antiviral treatment that appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus, is already being made available on the NHS.

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

The first drug proven to cut deaths from Covid-19 is not some new, expensive medicine but an old, cheap-as-chips steroid.

That is something to celebrate because it means patients across the world could benefit immediately. That's why the top-line results of this trial have been rushed out - because the implications are so huge globally.

Dexamethasone has been used since the early 1960s to treat a wide range of conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. Half of all Covid patients who require a ventilator do not survive, so cutting that risk by a third would have a huge impact.

The drug is given intravenously in intensive care, and in tablet form for less seriously ill patients. So far, the only other drug proven to benefit Covid patients is remdesivir, an antiviral treatment which has been used for Ebola.

That has been shown to reduce the duration of coronavirus symptoms from 15 days to 11, but the evidence was not strong enough to show whether it reduced mortality. Unlike dexamethasone, remdesivir is a new drug with limited supplies and a price has yet to be announced.

 

Same as the last guy then, and the next one

 

Well played Marcus Rashford

 

Hoping more footballers take his lead and try to use thier status and fame for the good of people.

Top lad

 

Kyle Walker was just trying his own form of trickle down economics.

 

No clue what your on about bro

 

That’s fine.

 

Dexamethasone - had to do a double take in the car when I heard that being announced on the radio on the way home.

A steroid I used to hear daily as it's part of the protocol for something called R-CHOP chemotherapy treatment for people with blood cancer such as Lymphoma. Very personal that.

Now could be a wonder drug for Coronavirus. Wow. Just wow.

 

Lets hope so bru.mad how tons of drugs are made for one thing and work for another

 

Sounds like good news, if I've understood the brieifing it is only useful for the most affected patients and reduces the likelyhood of death by 20-35%. Really cheap to make as well, absolute pennies.

 

So far I only know what I heard on the radio. But for cancer it's a mechanism for halting growth of the cancer cells as well as boosting and prolonging the effect of the chemo drug itself on those cells. Which makes me wonder whether it is being used to do the same for another drug being given to the worst affected Coronavirus patients.

 

It’s also used for reducing swelling and helping to repair damage caused by the immune system going haywire and attacking the body’s organs, which is what apparently happens in the severe stages of COVID. It’s a drug I’ve had before and it’s absolutely ****ing brutal in terms of side effects, but I suppose if you’re on a ventilator you’re not going to give a ****.

 

Aye I'm speaking from memory but I know what you're saying. It's almost like an anephelactic effect where my mrs was retaining fluid and swelling. There was always a question mark it was attacking the liver. Dexamethasone was the first thing they gave her and it sorted the swelling out. Then in future treatment it was always part of the regimen. It makes sense that it would be considered for Covid to reduce the effect of the immune system attacking organs.

 

Tends to be the trade off - you get nothing for nothing, I suppose. I had radiotherapy last year, and thought it was the biggest doddle going for the first four weeks. I thought it couldn't be doing anything as I didn't feel a thing. Then I didn't crap for three weeks.

 

Yep good news. Reduces deaths by 3rd on ventilated patients and 5th for those on oxygen. They are really impressive margins when it comes to medical outcomes and like you say, it's cheap costing something like £5 for treatment in the UK and what's more it's been around for ages, and is already widely available.

A ray of light in what otherwise has been a terrible episode.

 

Julian's ban is lifted, let's see if he can last longer than 5 mins this time - I doubt it, but there is always hope.

And Leftie's ban has been lifted for a few days.