Widely Available Drug Improves Survival From COVID-19: Researchers

This scanning electron microscope image, published on Feb. 13, 2020, shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the United States, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. NIAID-RML

A cheap drug that’s widely available reduces the chance of dying from COVID-19, researchers said.

An arm of one of the largest clinical trials evaluating drugs against the new disease showed dexamethasone, a steroid, reduced deaths by about 33 percent in patients on ventilators and 20 percent on patients receiving oxygen only.