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(Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) hailed as “great news” initial clinical trial results that showed a cheap and widely used steroid called dexamethasone can help save the lives of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
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“This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement late on Tuesday.
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“This is great news and I congratulate the government of the UK, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.”
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The researchers shared initial insights about the results of the trial with WHO, “and we are looking forward to the full data analysis in the coming days,” it said.
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“WHO will coordinate a meta-analysis to increase our overall understanding of this intervention. WHO clinical guidance will be updated to reflect how and when the drug should be used in COVID-19,” the agency added.
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(Reporting by Michael Shields and Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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