Combination therapy with oral fluvoxamine and inhaled budesonide significantly reduces risk for severe COVID-19 in outpatients at high risk for disease progression
A randomized controlled trial found that treatment with oral fluvoxamine plus inhaled budesonide among high-risk outpatients with early COVID-19 reduced the incidence of severe disease requiring advanced care. Previous studies evaluated these drugs independently. The combined effect seems to offer benefits over individual use of each drug. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers for the TOGETHER trial, a randomized adaptive platform trial to investigate the efficacy of repurposed treatments, conducted the trial with 738 symptomatic adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection residing in a highly vaccinated population. All patients had known risk factors for progression to severe disease. The investigators randomly assigned participants to either fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) plus inhaled budesonide (800 mcg twice daily for 10 days) or matching placebos over 28 days and monitored for hospitalization and/or clinical progression. They found that administration of the drug combination significantly reduced the rate of COVID-19 progression resulting in prolonged observation in an emergency setting or hospitalization.
