ArticleFrontiers in pharmacology2021
Fluvoxamine: A Review of Its Mechanism of Action and Its Role in COVID-19.
Article in Frontiers in pharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05216614 (Fluvoxamine to Augment Olfactory Recovery For Long COVID-19 Parosmia), which is not on this map. Cited by 95 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Fluvoxamine to Augment Olfactory Recovery For Long COVID-19 Parosmia (FluCOP Trial)
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 191 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Trial Sequential Analysis and Updated Meta-Analysis of Fluvoxamine on Clinical Deterioration in Adult Patients with Symptomatic COVID-19 Infection.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Psychotropic drug repurposing for COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of three new oral antiviral treatment (molnupiravir, fluvoxamine and Paxlovid) for COVID-19：a meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Fluvoxamine for the treatment of COVID-19.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Antidepressants for COVID-19: A systematic review.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Pooled it
- Fluvoxamine for Outpatient Management of COVID-19 to Prevent Hospitalization: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of fluvoxamine on preventing neuropsychiatric symptoms of post COVID syndrome in mild to moderate patients, a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Trial
- Effect of early treatment with fluvoxamine on risk of emergency care and hospitalisation among patients with COVID-19: the TOGETHER randomised, platform clinical trial.The Lancet. Global health · 2022Trial
- Drug Repurposing as a Broad-Spectrum Strategy Against Coronaviruses: Frontiers in Mechanisms and Clinical Translation.Viruses · 2026Review
- Fluvoxamine and lycopene alleviate cisplatin-induced kidney fibrosis by modulating miR-21 and fibrotic signaling pathways.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Sigma-1 Receptor Agonist Fluvoxamine Is Protective in Hyperglycaemia-Induced Dysfunction of Trabecular Meshwork Cells.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The evolution of SSRI research: trajectories of knowledge domains across four decades.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Associations of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and long COVID risk in patients with depression: a retrospective cohort study.Infection · 2026Article
- Host cell entry receptors as pharmacological targets in respiratory viral infections: from biology to clinical translation.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects of fluvoxamine during the intestinal phase of Trichinella spiralis infection in mice.Parasitology research · 2025Article
- Sigma-1 Receptor Activation by Fluvoxamine Ameliorates ER Stress, Synaptic Dysfunction and Behavioral Deficits in a Ketamine Model of Schizophrenia.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2025Article
- Fluvoxamine may reverse the decrease in filtering capacity that occurs in acute kidney injury by increasing IL-10 and ACE expressions and preserving AQ-2, AQ-4, CL-5, and ZO-1 expressions.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Review
- Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Long COVID-19: A Narrative Review of Clinical Aspects and Therapeutic Approaches.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fluvoxamine is a well-tolerated, widely available, inexpensive selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that has been shown in a small, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study to prevent clinical deterioration of patients with mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Fluvoxamine is also an agonist for the sigma-1 receptor, through which it controls inflammation. We review here a body of literature that shows important mechanisms of action of fluvoxamine and other SSRIs that could play a role in COVID-19 treatment. These effects include: reduction in platelet aggregation, decreased mast cell degranulation, interference with endolysosomal viral trafficking, regulation of inositol-requiring enzyme 1α-driven inflammation and increased melatonin levels, which collectively have a direct antiviral effect, regulate coagulopathy or mitigate cytokine storm, which are known hallmarks of severe COVID-19.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.