The Japanese government has approved the use of dexamethasone as a treatment against covid-19, after a British clinical trial has shown that the steroid can reduce mortality in severe cases.
Dexamethasone is a low-cost steroid easily accessible worldwide.
In June, a group of oxford university researchers published a study indicating that treatment with low doses of dexamethasone could reduce the risk of death in one third of severe patients with covid-19.
However, after the discovery, the World Health Organization urged countries to increase the production and mass distribution of the drug.
Dexamethasone is the second medicine approved as a treatment for covid-19 in Japan after Remdesivir, approved last May.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare included dexamethasone in the latest version of its guidance manual for the treatment of patients with the new coronavirus. It also decided that the drug will be covered by national health insurance.
The covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 610,000 lives and affected more than 14.7 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the France-Presse news agency (AFP).
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
