The steroid drug dexamethasone is not the miracle pill President Duterte is hoping for since it can possibly treat only a small percent of severely ill coronavirus patients, according to a Palace official yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said they welcome the initial United Kingdom clinical trial results on the medication as a potential coronavirus treatment, but they prefer a drug that can deliver 100 percent treatment of the illness.
“We definitely welcome it although we don’t think it is a miracle pill kasi ang findings it can save about 30 percent of seriously ill patients,” Roque said during a Palace press briefing.
“We want a cure that will save a 100 percent if not a majority of those who fall seriously ill,” he added.
Roque nonetheless welcomed the “good news” that dexamethasone, a drug used to reduce inflammation in diseases, is a cheap and wide-available medical product.
“Pero nagagalak kami na kaait papaano mayroon pag-asa na 30 percent effective itong gamot na ito para isalba ang mga critically ill,” he said.
The University of Oxford recently conducted clinical tests on dexamethasone and initially found it can suppress inflammatory responses in some patients with severe coronavirus patients.
The World Health Organization has reportedly welcomed the preliminary test results on dexamethasone but reminded that such drug must only be used in severe cases under close medical supervision. The global health body is expected to update its clinical guidance on the use of dexamethasone.
Last Tuesday, the President announced plans to purchase the “miracle pill” for the new coronavirus disease and supervise its distribution to the people once it becomes available in the market.
Duterte explained that he intends to oversee the distribution of the potential coronavirus medicine so “everybody gets a fair share of the medicine and the medical care.”
“The only way to fight COVID is vaccine or maybe ‘yung miracle pill that would kill just as an antibiotic would kill a bacteria,” Duterte said in a televised public address. He did not identify the so-called miracle pill during his speech. (Genalyn Kabiling)