According to research published online Oct. 27 in The Lancet Global Health, fluvoxamine minimizes the requirement for hospitalization in high-risk outpatients with COVID-19.
Gilmar Reis, Ph.D., and colleagues gathered high-risk symptomatic Brazilian adults who were confirmed positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 and had a known risk factor for progression to severe disease from 11 clinical sites. The data has been analyzed by the experts to understand the effects of this medicine with the required doses as suggested by experts.
Fluvoxamine Reduces Hospitalizations In Covid Outpatients With Infection
Fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) or placebos were given to participants at random (741 and 756 patients, respectively). The effects of this medicine have been much better than expected by the research group as explained by a member of the team.
Randomization to fluvoxamine was reported from Jan. 20 to Aug. 5, 2021, and the study arms were discontinued for superiority.
The fluvoxamine group had a lower proportion of patients in a COVID-19 emergency setting for more than six hours or moved to a tertiary hospital due to COVID-19 (11 versus 16 percent; relative risk, 0.68), achieving the pre-specified superiority threshold of 97.6%.
One fatality was recorded in the fluvoxamine group and 12 in the placebo group in the per-protocol population (odds ratio, 0.09).
Patients in the fluvoxamine and placebo groups experienced the same number of treatment-emergent adverse events.
In a statement, Reis added, “Our results are consistent with earlier, smaller trials.” “These findings may have a significant impact on national and worldwide guidelines on COVID-19 clinical care, given fluvoxamine’s safety, tolerability, ease of use, low cost, and broad availability.”
Patients in the fluvoxamine and placebo groups experienced the same number of treatment-emergent adverse events.
In a statement, Reis added, “Our results are consistent with earlier, smaller trials.” “These findings may have a significant impact on national and worldwide guidelines on COVID-19 clinical care, given fluvoxamine’s safety, tolerability, ease of use, low cost, and broad availability.”
Randomization to fluvoxamine was reported from Jan 20 to Aug. 5, 2021, and the study arms were discontinued for superiority.
The fluvoxamine group had a lower proportion of patients in a COVID-19 emergency setting for more than six hours or moved to a tertiary hospital due to COVID-19 (11 versus 16 percent; relative risk, 0.68), achieving the pre-specified superiority threshold of 97.6%. One fatality was recorded in the fluvoxamine group and 12 in the placebo group in the per-protocol population (odds ratio, 0.09).
There was no difference in the number of treatment-related adverse events. In a statement, Reis added, “Our results are consistent with earlier, smaller trials.” “These findings may have a significant impact on national and worldwide guidelines on COVID-19 clinical care, given fluvoxamine’s safety, tolerability, ease of use, low cost, and broad availability.”
Several authors revealed financial ties to the life science business, and two of them are co-inventors on a patent application for COVID-19 treatment procedures.
David Boulware, an infectious disease physician and researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, says, “This is an existing drug with two to three decades of clinical usage – something millions of people have taken.”
“It’s available at every drugstore in the United States, and it costs $10 for a 10-day course.” In comparison, Merck’s antiviral molnupiravir — another oral medicine that can protect patients from serious COVID-19 — costs $700 for a five-day treatment (SN: 10/1/21).
Boulware was not engaged in the most recent trial, but he assisted in the analysis of data from smaller research that showed fluvoxamine’s potential as a COVID-19 treatment early on. That research looked at how the technology was used in the actual world.
