How the biggest trial in the world found life-saving coronavirus drug dexamethasone in record time.
It is a rare and welcome moment to be able to say something positive about the treatment of Covid-19.
Speed was vital in order to catch the rising wave of hospital admissions here and to do so before doctors were overwhelmed. He told me he'd been frustrated that, during the last pandemic, of H1N1 swine flu, there was a"massive failure to do proper drug trials" and they emerged from it with"zero evidence" about whether any treatments actually worked.
One of those drugs under evaluation in the randomised trial was low-dose dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid which has been in use since the early 1960s. Dexamethasone is an immunosuppressive drug and there were fears it could make the illness worse, prolonging the infection, and increasing the likelihood of patients needing a ventilator.
As the BBC's medical correspondent, I have reported on global disease threats such as bird flu, swine flu, Sars and Mers - both coronaviruses - and Ebola. You could say I've been waiting much of my career for a global pandemic. And yet when Covid-19 came along, the world was not as ready as it could have been. Sadly, we may have to live with coronavirus indefinitely. Here, I will be reflecting on that.
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