A new coronavirus treatment that doctors have hailed as 'the start of something important' could save one in eight coronavirus patients.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told today's coronavirus briefing that there was "genuine cause to celebrate" as he labelled the drug trial "the biggest breakthrough yet".
The drug dexamethasone, which Mr Johnson said would be made available across the NHS, is cheap and widely available, according to scientists.
Professor Peter Horby, a University of Oxford academic who is leading the trial, said his team’s efforts had “broken records”.
“In three months, we have enrolled over 11,500 patients and this makes it by far the biggest clinical trial in the world,” he told today's briefing.
He said the majority of patients being treated in hospital for coronavirus will be able to take dexamethasone.
Prof Horby described the results of the trial as "really quite remarkable".
“In ventilated patients with Covid-19, the drug dexamethosone – so 10 days of treatment with that, which is a tablet or injection – reduces the risk of death by about 35 per cent," he said.
“In patients on the ward who require oxygen and have Covid, it reduces the risk of death by about 20 per cent – that covers about 75 per cent of patients in hospital who will see a mortality benefit from using this drug.”
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the breakthrough in Covid-19 treatment was "the start of something important".
He told the briefing that the drug is expected to save around one in eight patients.
But he cautioned that the steroid does not stop people catching coronavirus or going into hospital with it.
“It reduces the death for those who are in hospital who require oxygen, or in ICU and require oxygen, and it’s a very important effect.
“But… it’s roughly one in eight who survive as a result of this – a very important effect, but certainly not an effect-size that would say therefore you don’t need to worry about the other measures to try and reduce the spread of this infection.”
Mr Johnson thanked the scientists and patients involved in the trial.
He said: “I am proud of these British scientists, backed by UK Government funding, who have led the first, robust clinical trial anywhere in the world to find a coronavirus treatment proven to reduce the risk of death.
“I’m very grateful to the thousands of patients in this country who volunteered for the trials – thank you.”
He said the drug would now be available across the NHS and “we have taken steps to ensure we have enough supplies, even in the event of a second peak”.
