Dexamethasone cuts covid-19 deaths
A cheap drug can make a big difference
THE GOVERNMENT’S public-health performance may not look good, but Britain’s scientists are still top-notch when it comes to inventing and discovering drugs. On June 16th researchers at the University of Oxford announced that they had identified the first drug proven to reduce mortality from covid-19. Dexamethasone, a cheap steroid, reduces deaths by a third among the most severely ill patients. It is set to become the standard of care for the National Health Service (NHS) across Britain. Doctors around the world will, undoubtedly, follow suit.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Small ticket, big difference”
From the June 20th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Britain
Britain’s brokers are diversifying and becoming less British
London’s depleted stockmarket is forcing them to change
What a buzzy startup reveals about Britain’s biotech sector
Lots of clever scientists, not enough business nous
Britain’s government lacks a clear Europe policy
It should be more ambitious over getting closer to the EU
The Rachel Reeves theory of growth
The chancellor says it’s her number-one priority. We ask her what that means for Britain