Fighting coronavirus: What Is dexamethasone and how does it work?

Dexamethasone is not a novel drug. It is an often-used steroid with powerful anti-inflammatory properties

A drug named dexamethasone is the talk of the hour given recent claims that it can cut mortality in patients with severe forms of Covid-19 by a third. The claims originated in a press release issued by scientists involved with the RECOVERY (short for ‘Randomised Evaluation of Covid-19 Therapy‘) trial, from the University of Oxford. They have said that the trial data suggests that dexamethasone cuts the risk of death by one-third in patients with ventilator support and by one-fifth in patients requiring oxygen support.

This said, it’s important to note that their announcement was preliminary in nature: the study’s