Some patients with coronavirus disease (new coronary pneumonia) in 2019 caused serious complications due to excessive immune response. Fluvoxamine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), mainly used in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. In a mouse model of sepsis, fluvoxamine can reduce inflammatory damage. Recently, researchers investigated its effectiveness in preventing clinical deterioration and reducing the severity of mild illnesses due to new coronary pneumonia.
This study is a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, completely remote (non-contact) clinical trial. Hospitalized adult patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 infection developed symptoms of new coronary pneumonia within 7 days, with a blood oxygen saturation of 92%. They were randomly given 100 mg fluvoxamine (n=80) or placebo (n=72) three times a day. The main result of the study was clinical deterioration within 15 days after randomization, meeting the following two criteria: (1) Shortness of breath or hospitalization due to shortness of breath or pneumonia; (2) The blood oxygen saturation in indoor air conditions is lower than 92%, or the oxygen saturation is 92% or higher.
152 patients participated in the study, with an average age of 46 years, 72% of them were women, and 115 (76%) completed the study. There was no clinical deterioration in 80 patients in the fluvoxamine group and 6 cases in 72 patients in the placebo group (the absolute difference was 8.7%). There were 1 serious adverse event and 11 other adverse events in the fluvoxamine group, and 6 serious adverse events and 12 other adverse events in the placebo group.
The study shows that for patients with mild new coronary pneumonia undergoing outpatient treatment, fluvoxamine treatment can help reduce the risk of clinical deterioration within 15 days, but larger studies are needed to determine that fluvoxamine is preventing the deterioration of patients with new coronary pneumonia Aspects of clinical efficacy.