This Cheap Anti-Depressant Drug Could Stop Severe COVID, New Study Shows

A new study found that a cheap and available anti-depressant drug can decrease the risk of severe COVID among those at high risk.

Researchers conducted a trial for the drug called fluvoxamine that included 1,500 COVID patients in Brazil. The study showed that those who took the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder were less likely to progress to severe COVID and reduce the need for hospitalization.

According to Deseret News, the findings from the study were published in the medical journal The Lancet on Wednesday.

Researchers have also shared the results with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which publishes treatment guidelines, and were hoping for a World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation, the Associated Press reported.

Study co-author Dr. Edward Mills of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario said if WHO recommends the study, the drug, sold under the brand name Luvox, will be widely taken up by people. Mills added that many poor nations have the drug readily available and hope it will lead to many lives saved.

Anti-Depressant Drug Fluvoxamine Against COVID

Dr. Angela Reiersen, an associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis who worked on the study, said the drug is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) usually used to treat depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), CNN reported.

However, the researchers noted that it was also known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies.

In a statement, Reiersen said the anti-depressant drug could reduce the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines that can be stimulated by coronavirus infection. She added that it could also reduce blood platelets that may affect the clotting effects of COVID.

The researchers gave 741 volunteers infected with COVID 100 mg of fluvoxamine twice a day for 10 days. The other 756 volunteers received placebos or dummy pills.

The volunteers, who were at risk of severe illness because of other health problems, were reportedly tracked for four weeks to know who landed in an emergency room or hospital.

In total, about 11 percent or 79 of those who got the drug needed hospitalization compared to 16 percent of those given dummy pills. The study showed a five percent decrease in absolute risk and a 32 percent decrease in relative risk.

How Cheap Is This Drug For COVID Treatment?

The researchers wrote that a 10-day course of the anti-depressant drug costs around $4 even in well-resourced settings. However, they noted that more research is still needed to determine if fluvoxamine could be added to the treatments given to COVID patients.

Dr. Paul Sax of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the study, said the cheap generic and Merck's COVID pill work "in different ways" and might "be complementary."

The AP reported that the study's results were so strong that independent experts monitoring the study recommended stopping it early since the results were clear.

Researchers said a related drug, Prozac, should also be studied to see if it might help. They noted that Prozac is also cheap and even more widely available.

The researchers said: "It is now crucial to establish whether a class effect exists and whether these drugs can be used interchangeably for COVID-19."

Meanwhile, the researchers have acknowledged that the study was not perfect, saying it was done in Brazil, where patients had a higher hospitalization rate than COVID patients in other clinical trials.

Furthermore, they wrote that "there is little understanding of who is at greatest risk of disease progression from this disease as some patients with numerous risk factors do recover quickly whereas some others with less established risk factors might not."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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