A study shows the antidepressant fluvoxamine reduces severe fatigue in long COVID patients. In a randomized trial of 399 adults, it was compared with metformin and placebo. Physician Judith Bruchfeld describes the findings as interesting.
A new study, reported by Dagens Medicin, examined treatments for severe fatigue in adults with long COVID – fatigue that does not improve with rest. 399 patients were randomized to receive fluvoxamine, the type 2 diabetes drug metformin, or placebo.
Fluvoxamine, used for depression, effectively reduced fatigue. Metformin and placebo showed no comparable effect in the study.
"These are interesting data from a well-conducted study. Fluvoxamine is a well-known drug with relatively few side effects and something that can be tested clinically on selected patients," says Judith Bruchfeld, senior physician in infectious medicine at Karolinska University Hospital who researches long COVID, to the newspaper.
The drug is sold in Sweden as Fevarin but is not subsidized.
