Fluvoxamine for COVID-19: A New Weapon in the Fight?

The antidepressant appears to have some ability to prevent worsening in outpatients with COVID-19

By virtually all metrics, vaccine development for COVID-19 has been an astonishing success. But when it comes to therapeutics, the picture is much more mixed. This means the tip of the spear of the battle against coronavirus is and will remain vaccination, but, as you know, not everyone is getting vaccinated. We need therapeutics.

For nearly two years, the search for existing molecules with activity against COVID-19 has proceeded apace, but the process has been haphazard, and colored by political bias and misinformation. Melatonin, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and most recently ivermectin showed some initial promise only for rigorous randomized trials to shoot them down.

The idea that some existing drug would be a miracle cure for COVID-19 is basically fantasy. As Dr. Matsumoto said in the 1990 post-apocalyptic action film Robot Jox “That Kind of Luck Does Not Exist”.

But the idea that some existing molecule might have some efficacy, some moderate…