(Yicai Global) June 17 -- Shares of Guangdong Vtr Bio-Tech, a Chinese maker of dexamethasone, soared to their highest in over 2 ½ years after results of a clinical trial in the UK demonstrated that the steroid can reduce deaths among severe Covid-19 patients.

Vtr Bio-Tech’s stock price [SHE:300381] rose by the daily exchange-imposed 10 percent limit 10 minutes before the market closed, ending at CNY15.73 (USD2.20), the highest price since October 2017.

Preliminary clinical results, shared with the World Health Organization by Oxford University, show that dexamethasone could reduce mortality by about one third for patients with severe coronavirus who needed to use respirators in clinical trials, while it was cut by one-fifth for patients who just relied on oxygen supply.

“The company has received enough orders of corticosteroid Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients,” an executive at Vtr Bio-Tech told investors on the stock exchange’s online interactive platform this afternoon. Dexamethasone is the company’s raw material for respiratory and immune system drugs and one of the raw materials called corticosteroids, he said.

Researchers randomly picked 2,104 Covid-19 patients to take dexamethasone, and compared the results with 4,321 patients who received only conventional treatments in the clinical trial, a UK media report said earlier.

Dexamethasone is an essential drug in the basic public health system. Since the 1960s, it has been used to reduce inflammation in a variety of diseases, including various inflammatory conditions and certain cancers. It is cheap, easy to buy, and is not patent-protected in most countries.

The results of the clinical trial also boosted the US stock market last night. Industries that had been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, such as airlines, cruise companies and casino operators, led the market with a jump of more than 2 percent.

Editor: Peter Thomas