Therapy Areas: Respiratory
JAMA Reports Fluvoxamine as Potential Early Treatment for COVID-19
13 November 2020 - - JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, has published the results of a Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial that investigated whether the antidepressant medication fluvoxamine, if taken within seven days of first symptoms of COVID-19, can reduce the risk for respiratory deterioration, US-based The COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund said.

The CETF-funded study showed that fluvoxamine was effective: none of the 80 patients who took the drug met the respiratory deterioration criteria compared to an 8.3% rate in the 72 patients who took a placebo.

Under a leadership of Dr. Eric Lenze, director of the Healthy Mind Lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, study researchers tested fluvoxamine, which is typically used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, in coronavirus patients because it has strong anti-inflammatory properties.

The researchers believed this capability could prevent cytokine storms the body's massive, sometimes deadly, inflammatory reaction to coronavirus and other infections.

The 152 trial participants, all of whom were 18 years or older, were diagnosed with mild forms of COVID-19, and lived in either Missouri or Illinois.

Participants were randomly assigned to take either fluvoxamine or a placebo. In this outpatient clinical trial, there was no face-to-face contact between participants and clinicians; study materials, including the study drug, were delivered to the participants' homes.

In this trial, of the 80 participants who received the drug, zero hit the endpoint of clinical deterioration (oxygen saturation of 92% or lower along with difficulty breathing or hospitalization for pneumonia), as opposed to the six of 72 people who got the placebo and experienced deterioration.

The results show that fluvoxamine has the potential to reduce the risk of hospitalization in COVID-19 patients.

The study result affirmed a large, multi-center observational study done in France that showed that SSRI drugs significantly reduced the risk of requiring a ventilator or death from COVID-19. The French study showed that the SSRIs with the highest sigma-1 receptor activation had the greatest benefit.

CETF will provide additional funding to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to conduct another, larger trial with 880 participants to confirm these promising findings regarding the clinical benefits of fluvoxamine. That trial will be available for participants across the United States to enroll in remotely.

Additionally, CETF is the sole or primary sponsor of several other clinical trials that are reviewed by the CETF SAB, a world-class team of independent physician-scientists who thoroughly review every grant proposal to identify repurposed pharmaceuticals to treat COVID-19 symptoms and reduce hospitalizations from COVID-19 by over 75% and led by leading scientific researchers.

The COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, a 501(c) (3) organization administered by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, was created to ensure the rapid and completion of outpatient clinical trials that lead to effective early treatments for COVID-19, using existing drugs.
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