The Medical Advisor

Fluvoxamine and COVID-19 Fluvoxamine, developed 40 years ago as an antidepressant —sometimes known as Luvox—has been used mainly to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), per the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). But now, researchers are taking a closer look at how the medication could be an important treatment to prevent patients who test positive for COVID-19 from getting seriously ill with the infection. FDA Turns Down Fluvoxamine Emergency Use Authorization Request (May 2022) The Food and Drug Administration denied an emergency use authorization for fluvoxamine as a SARS-CoV-2 antiviral. Fluvoxamine was proposed as a possible antiviral in 2021 due to its mechanisms of action for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. These same mechanisms were suspected to inhibit SARS-CoV-2, leading to four trials testing the efficacy of the drug. In December 2021, Dr. David R Boulware requested an emergency use authorization for the outpatient treatment of adults testing positive...

A clinical trial has found that fluvoxamine , a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant, significantly reduces the chances of hospitalization and death in high-risk patients with COVID-19. Fluvoxamine is cheap, widely available, and has an established safety profile. If taken shortly after diagnosis, the drug may prevent the immune overreaction, or “cytokine storm,” often responsible for severe disease and death. The authors caution that other SSRI antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), may not have the same anti-inflammatory effects in COVID-19. In wealthy nations, vaccination programs have been turning the tide against COVID-19. However, many low and middle income countries still have very limited access to vaccines. “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 int...