Compared with placebo in ambulatory patients with confirmed COVID-19 who were aged 30 years or older, inhaled fluticasone furoate for 14 days did not shorten the time to recovery, ACTIV-6 investigators report. “Although no deaths occurred and hospitalizations were rare and similar in both groups, the number of urgent-care and emergency department visits was higher in the fluticasone furoate group than in the placebo group,” the authors conclude. “Overall, the lack of treatment effect and the possible increase in health care visits observed with inhaled fluticasone furoate as compared with placebo (3.2% vs. 1.6%) suggest that inhaled fluticasone furoate is not a favorable Covid-19 therapy.”
Participants in the decentralized, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled platform trial had at least 2 symptoms of acute infection present for no more than 7 days before enrollment. Randomization to inhaled fluticasone furoate 200 μg once daily for 14 days or placebo had these effects on a primary outcome of the time to sustained recovery (third of 3 consecutive days without symptoms): “Of the 1,407 enrolled participants who underwent randomization, 715 were assigned to receive inhaled fluticasone furoate and 692 to receive placebo, and 656 and 621, respectively, were included in the analysis. There was no evidence that the use of fluticasone furoate resulted in a shorter time to recovery than placebo (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% credible interval, 0.91 to 1.12; posterior probability of benefit [defined as a hazard ratio >1], 0.56). A total of 24 participants (3.7%) in the fluticasone furoate group had urgent-care or emergency department visits or were hospitalized, as compared with 13 participants (2.1%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 1.9; 95% credible interval, 0.8 to 3.5). Three participants in each group were hospitalized, and no deaths occurred. Adverse events were uncommon in both groups.”