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Coronavirus: Antidepressant shows success in treatment of Covid

2021-10-27T23:01:58.909Z


The antidepressant fluvoxamine could reduce the risk of hospital treatment for some Covid-19 patients. However, it only helps in the very early stages of the disease.


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Hospital in Germany (symbol image)

Photo: Fabian Sommer / DPA

The active ingredient fluvoxamine could reduce the risk of hospitalization in Covid 19 patients.

According to a study published in the journal "The Lancet", the drug had a positive effect on high-risk patients who were diagnosed with Covid-19 at an early stage.

Fluvoxamine is a so-called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and is actually used to treat depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it has been considered as a possible drug against Covid-19.

"Fluvoxamine can reduce the production of inflammatory molecules, so-called cytokines, that can be triggered by a Sars-CoV-2 infection," says Angela Reiersen, co-author of the study.

1497 Covid-19 patients were included in the study, of whom almost half (741) received the drug fluvoxamine.

79 of them continued to be treated in the hospital after receiving the medicine.

In the control group, which only received a placebo, 119 out of 756 were there.

An earlier study showed that the condition of Covid patients treated with fluvoxamine had not worsened in contrast to the control group.

Largest study to date with fluvoxamine

The current Lancet study is the largest randomized study to date to investigate the effectiveness of the antidepressant.

It is part of the so-called "Together Study", a platform that examines various possible Covid-19 treatments for high-risk outpatients.

Fluvoxamine is the first drug tested in the study.

The drug was tested on adults from Brazil.

They were unvaccinated, tested positive for Covid-19, symptomatic and had at least one additional criterion for a high risk of a severe course.

741 participants received 100 milligrams of fluvoxamine twice a day for ten days, 756 participants only received the placebo.

Study participants were observed 28 days after treatment.

Around ten percent of the patients who had received fluvoxamine then had to be treated for more than six hours in a specialized Covid-19 emergency facility or hospital.

From the control group it was 15.7 percent.

Although the study did not examine mortality, the authors emphasize that there was only one death in the fluvoxamine group as opposed to twelve deaths in the placebo study.

"Recent vaccine developments and campaigns have proven effective and important in reducing the number of new symptomatic cases, hospital admissions and deaths from Covid-19," said Edward Mills of McMaster University, one of the study's lead investigators.

"However, Covid-19 still poses a risk for people in countries with limited resources and limited access to vaccinations." Therefore, inexpensive, widespread and effective therapies against Covid-19 are necessary.

Another principal investigator, Gilmar Reis, said, "Given the safety, tolerability, ease of use, low cost, and widespread availability of fluvoxamine, these results can have an important impact on national and international guidelines for the clinical management of Covid-19."

The study authors note that fluvoxamine is not on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines.

However, another closely related drug called fluoxetine is on that list.

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 treatment effect in combination with other drugs.

Molnupiravir: putting a stop to viruses

When using fluvoxamine, it is also crucial to identify the patient at a very early stage of the disease.

Only then could the antidepressant possibly prevent the disease from progressing and prevent admission to hospital.

A number of pharmaceutical companies are currently working on drugs against Covid-19.

Only recently, the European Medicines Agency Ema began to examine the approval of the corona drug Molnupiravir from the US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.

In contrast to fluvoxamine, molnupiravir is antiviral rather than anti-inflammatory.

Antiviral drugs are designed to prevent viruses from entering body cells or multiplying there.

Molnupiravir is considered to be particularly promising because it can be taken as a pill and does not have to be administered intravenously, such as the antiviral drug Remdesivir, which has already been approved by Ema.

Vaccination continues to provide the best protection against a severe course of Covid-19.

kry

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-10-27

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