- Through clinical trials, it was found that both drugs do not offer noticeable benefits in patients with non-severe Covid-19.
- In addition, its unnecessary use is associated with side effects of different magnitude.
- For this reason, the new indication is not to use any of these options in infected people.
The current pandemic has shown the importance of medical updating. At the beginning, very little was known about this new disease, but as time has passed, important advances have been made. Now not only is there a vaccine, but the drugs that do work and those that do not against non-severe Covid-19 and other stages of the infection.
Vaccines are important but more options are needed
In that sense, immunization has worked to prevent millions of deaths around the planet. Its massive application has been the key to avoiding severe conditions in people and avoiding highly serious consequences.
Now, what should be clear is that vaccines do not prevent infections. In fact, infections have currently increased due to all the variants of Omicron that have arisen. Some have been shown to be more infectious and avoid the protection generated by biological agents.
Due to the above, a pending item is to develop new drugs to help people who are already infected. While the same goes for discarding options that have been identified as not working.
Medications that do not work in cases of non-severe Covid-19
With the above in mind, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a newsletter of interest to the medical community. These are two drugs that should be discontinued in cases of non-serious Covid-19 because its usefulness is nil.
It’s about the colchicine and fluvoxamine because current evidence has shown that they do not work for patients with mild disease or who receive outpatient care. It is also mentioned that both carry potential damage.
On the other hand, the WHO did not make recommendations for any of the medicines in patients with serious or severe symptoms because current data is limited or non-existent.
Fluvoxamine and colchicine are inexpensive drugs in common use that have received considerable interest as possible treatments against Covid-19 during the pandemic.
However, current recommendations against their use reflect current uncertainty about how drugs affect the body and evidence of little or no effect on survival and other important measures, such as risk of hospital admission and need for treatment. of mechanical ventilation. There is also a lack of reliable data on serious Covid-19 related harms associated with these drugs.
The WHO advice against the use of fluvoxamine, except in clinical trials, was based on data from three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with more than 2000 patients. While the decision against colchicine it was based on data from seven RCTs with 16,484 patients.
After thoroughly reviewing this evidence, the panel, which includes experts from around the world, including four patients who have had Covid-19, concluded that almost all well-informed patients would choose not to receive drug therapy. fluvoxamine or colchicine for Covid-19 based on available evidence.
The recommendations are part of a guideline developed by the WHO with the methodological support of MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation. The objective is to provide reliable and up-to-date information on the management of Covid-19 and help doctors make better decisions with their patients.
The guidelines allow researchers to update previously vetted and peer-reviewed evidence summaries as new information becomes available.