A Covid screening center in Grenoble.

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: ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA

After the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in turn recommends dexamethasone, a drug from the corticosteroid family, on Friday for the treatment of severe cases of Covid-19 which require administration of oxygen.

This decision allows pharmaceutical companies that manufacture dexamethasone, a drug commonly used in other indications, to request that this new use be officially included in its marketing authorization.

Effective for intubated patients 

"Based on the available data, the EMA approves the use of dexamethasone in adults and adolescents (over 12 years of age and weighing at least 40 kg) whose condition requires the administration of oxygen" , the EMA said in a statement.

The Agency relies in particular on the conclusions of the British Recovery study, which were unveiled in June.

"In intubated patients (connected to an artificial respiration device via a tube inserted into the trachea, editor's note), 29% of those treated with dexamethasone died after 28 days of treatment, against 41% of those who did not not receiving, ”recalls the EMA.

“In patients who received oxygen without being intubated, these figures were 23% with dexamethasone and 26% without,” she continues.

On the other hand, "no reduction in the risk of death was observed in patients who did not receive oxygen", concludes the EMA.

The corticosteroids already recommended 

Beyond the single case of dexamethasone, a series of studies published on September 2 in the American medical journal Jama showed that drugs from the entire corticosteroid family can reduce mortality by 21% after 28 days in patients with severe Covid-19, fighting the inflammation characteristic of severe forms.

No other drug has shown a significant effect in reducing mortality.

This led the WHO to recommend "the systematic use of corticosteroids in patients with a severe or critical form" of the disease.

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