Drug Proven to Reduce Virus Deaths, Scientists Say

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/world/coronavirus-live-updates.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Scientists at the University of Oxford said on Tuesday that they have identified what they called the first drug proven to reduce coronavirus-related deaths, after a 6,000-patient trial of the drug in Britain showed that a low-cost steroid could reduce deaths significantly for hospitalized patients.

The steroid, dexamethasone, reduced deaths by a third in patients receiving ventilation, and by a fifth in patients receiving only oxygen treatment, the scientists said. They found no benefit from the drug in patients who did not need respiratory support.