Early trials show that Fluvoxamine, an affordable antidepressant medication, is effective at slowing the clinical deterioration of patients with COVID symptoms, reducing the need for hospitalization, and speeding recovery time.
To date, hundreds of patients with symptomatic COVID have been safely treated with Fluvoxamine.
*Fluvoxamine is NOT FDA Approved for COVID-19 treatment
CityHealth is offering Fluvoxamine treatment to patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and who are experiencing symptoms (such as fever, dry cough, tiredness, and difficulty breathing).
Patients with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, heart, or lung disease.
Patients aged 65 or over
This treatment involves taking Fluvoxamine twice a day for 14 days.
This treatment is supervised by a licensed clinician. Patients must consult with a physician before being prescribed Fluvoxamine. This is not a trial.
In real-world trials conducted by Dr. David Seftel, MD, 65 patients with COVID were treated twice daily with Fluvoxamine vs. a control group of 48 people who declined Fluvoxamine treatment.
The control group, who did not receive Fluvoxamine, had a 12.5% rate of hospitalization, and 60% were still symptomatic after two weeks.
After 14 days, the Fluvoxamine group had 0 hospitalizations and 0 residual symptoms after two weeks.
A study by Dr. Eric J. Lenze, MD, Dr. Caline Mattar, MD, and Dr. Charles F. Zorumski, MD, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that a group of COVID patients treated with Fluvoxamine had no clinical deterioration after 14 days of treatment. Patients treated with Fluvoxamine did not report shortness of breath and did not require hospitalization or supplemental oxygen after two weeks of Fluvoxamine treatment.
Fluvoxamine’s effectiveness for combating COVID symptoms was first noticed in May 2020 at Sainte Anne mental hospital, when it was observed that staff were suffering from severe COVID symptoms at 3x the rate of patients (most of whom were being treated with SSRI medications), despite the patients having much higher comorbidities and risk factors for the disease.
In support of these growing findings, a clinical study has launched to prove the effectiveness of Fluvoxamine in treating COVID symptoms (www.stopcovidtrial.com) and similar randomized studies in Brazil, Hungary, and Korea. The FDA is being petitioned to allow a EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) for Fluvoxamine’s use to treat COVID.
Fluvoxamine has been FDA-approved since 2007 to treat OCD and social anxiety disorders, but doctors have been prescribing it “off-label” for years to treat several other disorders, such as Major Depressive Disorder, social phobias, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Fluvoxamine is not yet a common treatment for COVID-19 because Phase 3 FDA trials on its use to treat COVID are not yet complete (we’ve been using it safely for over 14 years to treat other illnesses). However, all medical evidence shows that Fluvoxamine is effective at preventing clinical deterioration of patients with COVID.
CityHealth is pleased to offer this Fluvoxamine treatment option to high-risk patients who have recently been diagnosed with COVID-19. We encourage anyone who is COVID-19 positive and symptomatic to speak with a CityHealth clinician to see if they are eligible to receive Fluvoxamine treatment.
Fluvoxamine vs Placebo and Clinical Deterioration in Outpatients With Symptomatic COVID-19
Washington University School of Medicine – Fluvoxamine may prevent serious illness in COVID-19 patients
https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/fluvoxamine-may-prevent-serious-illness-in-covid-19-patients/
LA Times – Can a common antidepressant help in the fight against COVID-19?
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-03/can-common-antidepressant-help-covid-19-fight
Science News – The antidepressant fluvoxamine could keep mild COVID-19 from worsening
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-coronavirus-antidepressant-fluvoxamine-treatment/
Prospective Cohort of Fluvoxamine for Early Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 19
https://academic.oup.com/ofid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ofid/ofab050/6124100
