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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has issued advisory against the use of cheap and widely-used steroid called “dexamethasone” for the treatment of the dreaded coronavirus disease.
It was announced on Tuesday, following a trial conducted, that the drug, Dexamethasone, normally used to reduce inflammation in other diseases such as arthritis, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.
It became the first drug shown to be able to save lives among COVID-19 patients in what scientists said is a “major breakthrough” in the pandemic.
But the NCDC said it is aware of recent outcomes from a UK-Government funded clinical trial of the drug which results support the use of Dexamethasone as a possible treatment, but warned that it has not validated or approved the drug for treatment of COVID-19, nor has the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“The NCDC is aware of recent outcomes from a UK-Government funded clinical trial for COVID-19. The results support the use of Dexamethsaone as a possible treatment to reduce the risk of death among COVID-19 patients, who require oxygen or mechanical ventilation,” said the health agency on Twitter.
“Please note that the Government of Nigeria has not validated or approved any treatment for COVID-19. In addition, the use of Dexamethasone for COVID-19 treatment has not been validated by @WHO.
“We are aware of ongoing clinical trials conducted by scientists in the UK and will work with our sister agencies to evaluate this emerging data on the use of Dexamethasone. We will inform the general public on outcomes following scientific review and validation.”
