Dexamethasone: US doctors cast doubt on UK’s coronavirus ‘breakthrough’

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Professor Peter Horby of Oxford University said the Recovery Trial project findings show the drug would, on average, prevent one death in every eight Covid-19 patients in intensive care units. “I’ll just wait to see the real data, see if it’s peer reviewed and gets published in a real journal.” Dexamethasone tablets are widely-sold in pharmacies across the UK The University of Washington professor of medicine Dr Mark Wurfel urged the researchers to put out data before official publication. “That would be very, very helpful in terms of helping us align our patient populations with theirs and decide whether it’s appropriate to apply this therapy to our patients.” On Wednesday health secretary Matt Hancock hailed the findings of Oxford’s Recovery Trial as “one of the best pieces of news we’ve had through this whole crisis”. Dr Ayfer Ali, an assistant professor in drug repurposing at Warwick Business School, said: “The results seem to be extremely encouraging and this will be now one of the most important tools against Covid-19 in seriously ill patients.” Boris Johnson says life-saving coronavirus drug dexamethasone "can now be made available across the NHS" Dr Ali added: “Now we have to wait for the full results to be peer-reviewed and remember that it is not a cure for all, just one more tool.” Dr Nick Cammack, the Covid-19 therapeutics accelerator lead at Wellcome Trust, described it as a “major breakthrough”, adding: “Dexamethasone is the first and only drug that has made a significant difference to patient mortality for Covid-19.” Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, added: “This outcome for patients suffering from severe Covid-19 in need of respiratory assistance is of tremendous importance.