(Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday it has started reviewing the results of a study by UK researchers evaluating the use of a widely known steroid called dexamethasone against the coronavirus.
Dexamethasone, commonly used against a range of inflammatory conditions, has been proven to decrease the risk of death in COVID-19 patients who were using oxygen or mechanical ventilation, according to results published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, called RECOVERY, is being run by researchers at the University of Oxford and is supported in part by the National Institute for Health Research as well as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The drug has since been approved in Japan as a second treatment of COVID-19 along with Gilead Sciences Inc 's (O:GILD) antiviral drug remdesivir.
The review of the study results is being carried out by EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), which will issue a scientific opinion within the shortest possible timeframe, the agency said in a statement.