The standout development in this latest Coronavirus Notebook is that the cheap and plentiful steroid dexamethasone has been shown to reduce deaths by a third in ventilated COVID-19 patients in the UK Recovery trial. In other news, there is fresh funding for smaller firms working on potential treatments and vaccines, and a number of organizations have decided to make their research tools and resources available free of charge in return for open publication of any coronavirus-related findings.

As discussions continue over the European Commission’s plans to overhaul the EU pharmaceutical legislation, the R&D-based pharma industry body EFPIA says that any new pharma policy framework will need to be stable, fast, effective and globally competitive.

Proposals on medicines put forward by the European Commission are part of a package of measures to improve the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol by relaxing checks on goods moving across the Irish sea.