Saudi Arabia has approved dexamethasone to treat critically ill coronavirus patients following a promising study on the drug in the United Kingdom, the kingdom’s state-run news reported Wednesday.
A trial run by the University of Oxford found that the drug, a low-dose steroid used to treat inflammation, reduced the death rate among COVID-19 patients on ventilators by about 35%. The researchers estimate 5,000 lives could have been spared had the UK used the drug at the start of its outbreak.