
Soaring hospital demand for the steroid dexamethasone, which British researchers say significantly reduces mortality among severely ill COVID-19 patients, is outstripping supply in the United States.
Hospitals and other health-care customers advised by Vizient increased orders of the drug by more than 600% after the researchers announced their findings last week.
Manufacturers were only able to fill around half of those orders.
Vizient’s data shows that hospitals are increasingly putting the drug into use to treat COVID-19 patients.
According to Oxford University researchers, dexamethasone reduced death rates by nearly a third among COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical breathing assistance.
The injectable version of dexamethasone has been in shortage in the US since February of last year, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.