WHO does not recommend two drugs to treat mild cases of Covid

The WHO (World Health Organization) updated this Wednesday (13) the recommendations of medicines for the treatment of Covid-19. According to the organization, the antidepressant fluvoxamine and the anti-inflammatory colchicine should not be used in patients who do not have a severe picture of the disease.

The WHO guidelines for medicines for Covid-19 are made by a group of researchers that make up the Guideline Development Group (GDG). They analyze previously published research to reach conclusions.

Fluvoxamine was already being researched for the treatment against Covid-19. WHO considered three studies to support its recommendation. Among these, there is a Brazilian article that appears as the largest investigation on the effectiveness of the drug for the disease. The study concluded that the antidepressant was associated with a five percentage point reduction in hospitalizations of patients with the disease.

For the WHO, however, the evidence on the effectiveness of the drug is still small. There is also a lack of information about the mechanism of the drug that would explain the decrease in the severity of Covid-19 in patients who used fluvoxamine. The lack of data on adverse effects was also a point raised in the organization’s recommendation.

With the update, the WHO does not recommend the use of the drug in patients with mild and moderate cases of Covid-19. The exception would be the use of the drug in these patients in the context of clinical studies to investigate the possible effects of the drug.

According to the organization, the guidance is an indication that new evidence is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of fluvoxamine – that is, the recommendation may change in the future. A point still open, for example, is to identify the effects of the drug in patients who do not have a serious condition of Covid-19, but are at risk of getting worse.

The anti-inflammatory colchicine also did not have a favorable recommendation for the treatment of patients without a serious condition of Covid-19. For its decision, the WHO looked at ten previous studies that evaluated the effects of the drug for the treatment of the disease.

The organization says there is not enough evidence to indicate the effectiveness of the drug in reducing hospitalizations, mortality and the need for mechanical ventilation. It was also pointed out that the drug’s toxic pattern can be fatal for some patients.

Unlike fluvoxamine, it is very unlikely that further studies will come to the conclusion of a positive effect of colchicine for Covid, says the WHO. The organization even points out that the decision against the drug is a strong recommendation – a category not intended for fluvoxamine.