[Federalist] Omicron emerging in the United States and news of the first reported death in the United Kingdom remind us how little we understand the novel coronavirus, and with vaccines less effective against the new variant, how much we are in need of additional ways to fight it. To broaden our knowledge of COVID-19 and identify the best ways to treat and prevent it, doctors should be able to use every possible safe means at their disposal to help patients. Unfortunately, that is impossible in our current political climate.Since the summer of 2020, U.S. public health agencies have continually shut down the use or even discussion of generic treatments that are minimally profitable. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded 20 large research studies of patented pharmaceutical industry drugs before only recently (and slowly) agreeing to study repurposed generic medicines.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have recommended next to none. Instead, the Biden administration has thrown its political weight almost solely behind mass vaccinations, and hospitals and pharmacies have dogmatically followed suit. But this approach is proving insufficient to arrest COVID-19.
REPURPOSED GENERIC MEDICINES THAT HELP FIGHT COVID
Just look at the evidence on fluvoxamine, a widely used generic antidepressant. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) published in November 2020 showed that the drug led to far less clinical deterioration in treated patients. Another, larger, double-blind RCT, published in The Lancet in October of this year, found fluvoxamine reduced COVID-19 mortality rates by up to 91 percent and hospitalizations by two-thirds. This is an FDA-approved drug. Dosed correctly and for such short periods, it is safe. And it costs about a dollar a pill.
These findings have since been further reinforced by another study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in November, which showed a strong "class effect" of benefits from anti-depressants very similar to fluvoxamine against COVID-19. Yet, despite the large double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, neither the NIH nor the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has arrived at a recommendation for routine use of these drugs to treat COVID-19.
The NIH to date has ignored the study. Its last update on fluvoxamine dates back to April, more than seven months ago. More disturbing is the fact that the IDSA recently reviewed this high-quality trial, yet still held fast to its recommendation of "do not use outside of a clinical trial." Why do repurposed drugs require numerous trials prior to an agency recommendation, while high-profit, novel, patented drugs get routinely approved after only a single trial?