A common antidepressant medication has shown potential as a treatment for people with COVID-19, as long as the infection is caught early enough.
Fluvoxamine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) like fluoxetine, citalopram and paroxetine, used to treat depression, anxiety and OCD. It has anti-inflammatory properties, prompting research into whether it could be a treatment for COVID-19.
Hospitalised patients given fluvoxamine in a small 2020 study saw their conditions stabilise or improve, while some others given a placebo deteriorated.
A new Brazilian trial involving about 1500 patients admitted to emergency departments has found fluvoxamine appears to reduce the likelihood of an extended stay in hospital.
Of those who received the drug, 10.6 percent required physician treatment for more than six hours or were hospitalised, compared to 15.7 percent of those who received a placebo. Only one person who received fluvoxamine died, compared with 12 in the placebo group.
"COVID-19 still poses a risk to individuals in countries with low resources and limited access to vaccinations," said Edward Mills of McMaster University, co-principal investigator on the trial. "Identifying inexpensive, widely available, and effective therapies against COVID-19 is therefore of great importance, and repurposing existing medications that are widely available and have well-understood safety profiles is of particular interest."
It's believed to work by reducing the "production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines that can be triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection", said co-author Angela Reiersen of Washington University in St. Louis, using the scientific name for the virus which causes COVID-19.
"Given fluvoxamine's safety, tolerability, ease of use, low cost, and widespread availability, these findings may have an important influence on national and international guidelines on clinical management of COVID-19," said co-principal investigator Gilmar Reis.
Fluvoxamine is not on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, but other similar SSRI drugs are, which the researchers say might have similar if not better success at treating COVID-19.
Some previous touted cures, such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, have turned out to be fizzers - but still have large online followings despite not being effective.
"Too bad there isn't any 'cult following' for this… unlike other unproven drugs that shall not be named," prominent public health scientist Eric Feigl-Ding, one of the first to publicly raise the alarm over COVID-19 in January 2020.
The latest study was published in The Lancet Global Health on Friday.
