A widely prescribed antidepressant could help people struggling with long Covid fatigue<\/a>, a new study suggests.\u00a0<\/p>\n A randomised clinical trial compared the potential of\u00a0fluvoxamine – marketed as Faverin – metformin and a placebo\u00a0<\/a>to reduce one of the most\u00a0\u00a0persistent and debilitating symptoms of long covid, fatigue.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The study, conducted by scientists at the Brazilian Biomedical Research Institute included almost 400 adults who had been experiencing fatigue for at least 90 days after falling ill with covid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Participants were randomly assigned one of the drugs for 60 days, and asked to trac how tired they felt using\u00a0a standard severity scale.<\/p>\n The fluvoxamine patients reported steady improvements in fatigue and quality-of-life scores over 60 to 90 days, with fewer side effects than a placebo. It\u00a0also boosted overall quality-of-life scores.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Metformin, which lowers insulin and blood sugar even in people without diabetes<\/a>, showed no significant benefit. While all treatments were generally safe, fluvoxamine had fewer reported side effects.<\/p>\n The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the authors say fluvoxamine may be a viable treatment for long Covid fatigue – although its long-term effects are still unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n An important limitation is that the study did not assess participants’ history of depression so it is unclear whether the effect was a direct impact on long Covid or related to underlying depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n Long covid is defined as covid symptoms which last longer than 12 weeks after infection<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Professor Christiaan Vinkers from the Amsterdam University Medical Centre, who was not involved in the study, said that the study is promising but the pill is unlikely to be a golden bullet.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said: ‘This randomised placebo-controlled trial provides encouraging evidence that fluvoxamine may reduce fatigue in a selected group of patients with long Covid.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘The study appears methodologically solid with low dropout and a consistent signal on fatigue and quality of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Still, the findings should be interpreted cautiously because the main outcome was self-reported and the population excluded important groups such as patients with depressive or anxiety disorders.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘In addition, the study focused primarily on fatigue and did not assess other long COVID features such as post-exertional malaise (PEM), autonomic symptoms including POTS, or cognitive impairment, nor did it include biomarker measures to help understand underlying mechanisms.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘The results are promising, but replication is essential, ideally in broader patient groups and with outcomes that capture the full spectrum of long Covid.’\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Long](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/30\/12\/107525061-15690805-image-a-10_1774871192701.jpg\")
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