CORONAVÍRUS Good news! THIS antidepressant can protect against hospitalization – Topky.sk

The active substance fluvoxamine could reduce the risk of hospitalization in patients with Covid 19. According to the study published in The Lancet the drug had a positive effect in high-risk patients diagnosed with Covid-19 at an early stage.

Fluvoxamine is a so-called serotonin reuptake blocker (SSRI) and is actually used to treat depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, it is considered a possible drug against Covid-19. “Fluvoxamine can reduce the production of inflammatory molecules, so-called cytokines, that can be triggered by Sars-CoV-2 infection.” says Angela Reiersen, co-author of the study.

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The study included 1,497 patients with Covid-19, of whom almost half (741) received fluvoxamine. 79 of them continued to be treated in hospital after administration. In the control group that received only one placebo, there were 119 of 756.

An earlier study also showedthat the condition of Covid patients treated with fluvoxamine did not worsen in contrast to the control group.

Source: SITA / AP Photo / Matt Rourke

The largest study to date with fluvoxamine

The current study in the Lancet is the largest randomized study to date that examined the effectiveness of an antidepressant. It is part of the so-called Together study, a platform that explores various possible treatments for Covid-19 for high-risk outpatients. Fluvoxamine is the first drug tested in the study.

The drug has been tested in adults from Brazil. They were unvaccinated, tested positive for Covid-19, symptomatic, and had at least one additional criterion for a high risk of severe course. 741 participants received 100 milligrams of fluvoxamine twice daily for ten days, 756 participants received placebo alone. Study participants were observed 28 days after treatment.

Approximately ten percent of patients who received fluvoxamine then had to be treated for more than six hours in a specialized emergency room or hospital on COVID-19. It was 15.7 percent of the control group.

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Although the study did not examine mortality, the authors point out that there was only one death in the fluvoxamine group, in contrast to the twelve deaths in the placebo study.

“Recent vaccine developments and campaigns have proven effective and important in reducing the number of new symptoms, hospitalizations and deaths in Covid-19,” said Edward Mills of McMaster University, one of the lead researchers in the study. “However, COVID-19 still poses a risk to people in countries with limited resources and limited access to vaccination.” Therefore, there is a need for cheap, widespread and effective therapies against Covid-19.

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Another researcher, Gilmar Reis, said: “Given the safety, tolerability, ease of use, low cost, and wide availability of fluvoxamine, these results can have a significant impact on national and international guidelines for the clinical treatment of Covid-19.”

The authors of the study note that fluvoxamine is not on the list of basic drugs of the World Health Organization. However, there is another closely related medicine on this list called fluoxetine. It is now crucial to determine whether these drugs are interchangeable in the treatment of Covid-19. In addition, it must be determined whether fluvoxamine could have a greater therapeutic effect in combination with other drugs.

Source: TASR / AP / Merck & Co.

Molnupiravir is expected to stop coronavirus

When using fluvoxamine, it is also crucial to identify the patient at a very early stage of the disease. Only then could the antidepressant prevent disease progression and hospital admission.

A number of pharmaceutical companies are currently working on anti-Covid-19 drugs. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has only recently started examining the approval of Molnupiravir by the American pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. Unlike fluvoxamine, molnupiravir is antiviral rather than anti-inflammatory.

Antiviral drugs are designed to prevent viruses from entering or multiplying in the body’s cells. Molnupiravir is considered to be particularly promising because it can be taken as a tablet and does not need to be given intravenously, such as the antiviral medicine Remdesivir, which has already been approved by the EMA. However, vaccination continues to provide the best protection against the severe course of Covid-19.