Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
British scientists in Oxford work to find coronavirus treatments. Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images
Dexamethasone, a widely available steroid, appears to be a life-saving coronavirus treatment, reducing deaths among the sickest patients in a large, controlled clinical trial, British researchers said Tuesday.
Why it matters: This would be the first treatment with the potential to save lives — and it's an existing, generic drug, meaning it could be widely available and relatively cheap.
- Oxford researchers leading the trial, called RECOVERY, said in a statement that dexamethasone cut the death rate by one-third among patients who were on a ventilator, and by one-fifth among patients who were on supplemental oxygen.
- It showed no benefit for the healthiest patients.
Between the lines: While this is a large, controlled trial, the results were made public only in a press release. They have not been peer-reviewed, or published formally at all.
- These kinds of incremental, one-off statements have clouded the picture of how well other coronavirus treatments work.
- The Oxford researchers said they are "now working to publish the full details as soon as possible."
Where it stands: Only one other drug has been shown so far to be helpful in treating coronavirus.
- That drug, remdesivir, helps healthier patients get out of the hospital faster, but does not appear to improve the odds of survival for seriously ill patients. Dexamethasone would be the only drug to do that — so far.
- Another hyped treatment, hydroxychloroquine, which was touted and taken by President Trump, had its emergency use authorization for coronavirus use pulled by the FDA on Monday.
The bottom line: "If this holds up — this is very good news indeed!" tweeted Ashish Jha, the director of Harvard's Global Health Institute.