The authors of the study said that “this research could help enhance protection against severe (Covid 19) symptoms or even death, at low cost, in countries with a shortage of vaccines.”
Fluvoxamine is used to treat psychiatric and mental illnesses such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and was selected for trials because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
Many of the problems resulting from infection with the Corona virus are caused by swelling due to the excessive reaction of the immune system against infection.
Researchers from North and South America published in the journal “The Lance Public Health” the results of experiments in which 1,500 people with “Covid 19” participated in Brazil, one of the countries in the world most affected by the epidemic.
Of the 741 people who received fluvoxamine, 79 patients, or only 10 percent, needed to stay in hospital to receive treatment.
The researchers indicated that giving the drug led to a relative decrease in the need for hospitalization by 32 percent.
“(Covid 19) continues to pose a risk to people in countries with low resources or with limited vaccines,” said Edward Mills of McMaster University and one of the experiments working on the trials.
He added: “It is therefore important to identify inexpensive, accessible and effective treatments against the disease, and to reproduce drugs that are widely available and also have a well-understood safety record.”
Although the study did not mainly target the issue of reducing mortality, it found that 12 patients from the trial participants who received a placebo died, while one patient from the group given “fluvoxamine” died.
The study stressed the need for further evaluation, because the drug “fluvoxamine” is not on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, and can cause addiction.
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