"Antidepressant Significantly Reduces Covid-19 Hospitalization"

From the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

Covid-19 patients who received fluvoxamine were significantly less likely to require hospitalization than those who didn’t, in the largest clinical trial evaluating the antidepressant’s effect on Covid-19 to date.

Fluvoxamine belongs to a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. It is commonly used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder and is also prescribed for depression. In use for decades, fluvoxamine has been shown to be safe and costs about $4 for a 10-day course, said Edward Mills, one of the study’s lead researchers and a professor of health sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He said fluvoxamine’s low cost and wide availability make it a compelling alternative to other Covid-19 therapies including monoclonal antibody treatments, which are costly and require an infusion. Another treatment, Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP’s experimental molnupiravir pill, will cost the U.S. government around $700 per course in the U.S.

“For both poor countries and even wealthy countries, it’s a great option,” Dr. Mills said of fluvoxamine.

Past research suggests that fluvoxamine has anti-inflammatory properties, though scientists are still unsure of exactly how it works against Covid-19, said Dr. Mills. The drug may help blunt the out-of-control inflammation that can cause severe disease in Covid-19, he said.

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The researchers found that patients who received fluvoxamine were 32% less likely to be hospitalized than those in the placebo group. Among patients who stuck to the regimen closely and reported taking the drug or placebo for at least eight days of the 10-day course, there was an even bigger difference—a 66% reduction in hospitalization and 91% reduction in death rates.