Association of Increased Fluvoxamine Use with Reports of Benefit for COVID

Introduction Several recent studies have found that fluvoxamine decreases the risk of serious disease progression among people with early SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, we examined changes in the total number of fluvoxamine tablets dispensed across retail pharmacies in the U.S. Methods We hypothesized that fluvoxamine prescriptions would increase substantially since March 2021 as an option for the early treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We used the IQVIA National Prescription Audit (NPA) Weekly nationally projected data for prescriptions dispensed from retail pharmacies for fluvoxamine from 27 December 2019 to 31 December 2021. We performed an interrupted-time series analyses on frequency of dispensing fluvoxamine tablets. Results The weekly rate of dispensed tablets of fluvoxamine increased throughout the study period. The weekly number of dispensed tablets of fluvoxamine increased (11.1%) from a baseline of 1,586,154 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1,563,960 – 1,608,348) to 1,762,381 (95% CI: 1,735,682 – 1,789,080) by December 2021. Conclusion Our findings are consistent with a modest increase in the use of fluvoxamine for the treatment of COVID-19 associated with the discovery and media dissemination of the potential clinical benefit of fluvoxamine use.