A new study found three generic drugs — fluvoxamine, which is often prescribed to treat depression, the controversial antimalarial ivermectin, and the diabetes pill metformin — failed to prevent the kind of severe COVID-19 that leads to an emergency-room visit or hospitalization. The research, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, examined whether any of the three medications benefited 1,323 patients when prescribed in the early days of a COVID-19 infection. Some of the study’s participants received a combination of metformin and fluvoxamine or metformin and ivermectin, most were vaccinated, and all were overweight. The randomized, placebo-controlled, Phase 3 study was conducted from December 2020 January of this year by researchers at the University of Minnesota.
“None of the medications showed any impact on the primary outcome, which included experiencing low oxygen as measured on an home oxygen monitor,” said Dr. Carolyn Bramonte, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Having low blood oxygen levels, or hypoxemia, is a common reason why COVID-19 patients end up seeking care in an ER, being hospitalized, or dying. Until the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s
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