Breakthrough drug Dexamethasone effective in treating COVID-19 symptoms

In the midst of times where the whole world is struggling to cope with the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a major breakthrough wherein Dexamethasone, a generic low cost corticosteroid used to treat auto-immune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and some forms of cancer has been effective in treating COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized and have a severe respiratory complication.

With the use of this drug, the deaths among patients needing breathing assistance have been lower over a period of four weeks, as reported by researchers in England. Accordingly, Britain has approved Dexamethasone to treat all hospitalized COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen with immediate effect.

Zydus Cadila and Wockhardt are amongst the companies in India manufacturing Dexamethasone, and approval and commercialisation of the drug in India would be a huge deal for these companies.

As of June 17, 2020, 1:03 PM GMT+5:30, there have been 81,77,566 confirmed cases and 4,43,765 deaths reported worldwide.

Earlier, Zydus Cadila had signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc. to manufacture and market the drug Remdesivir, an investigational drug from Gilead Sciences Inc. USFDA has granted Remdesivir an emergency use authorization to treat patients suffering from severe symptoms of Coronavirus.