tanny wrote:
Indeed, a drug of minimal cost that has been kicking around for years can now be seen as a partial solution. At only 5.40 per treatment I wonder why it was kept under wraps for so long!!
Probably because it was part of a trial of many 'existing' drugs that had to go through the testing process and clinical trials to find out if it worked. These trials take many weeks if not months to evaluate. There could be even more existing drugs that are even more effective and cheaper but are still being (or have to be) tested
"The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say.
The drug is part of the world's
biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus."
"The RECOVERY trial was launched in April as a randomised clinical trial to test a range of potential treatments for COVID-19, including low-dose dexamethasone and the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. The hydroxychloroquine arm was halted earlier this month after Horby and Landray said results showed it was “useless” at treating COVID-19 patients."