WASHINGTON — The [NIH} on Monday [began steps to enroll] patients in clinical trials [of] long Covid treatments, and the [HHS has created the] Office of Long Covid Research that the Biden administration first announced nearly a year ago.
Congress in December 2020 gave the NIH $1.15 billion to research and test treatments … The trials were initially supposed to launch last fall but were delayed three separate times, according to documents obtained by STAT and MuckRock.
The only trial underway right now will test whether a longer regimen of Pfizer’s antiviral Paxlovid alleviates symptoms of viral persistence. A previous study at Stanford University ... was stopped early after results from an interim analysis.
Duke University officials in charge of running the new clinical trials said they plan to test a longer regimen of Paxlovid than Stanford did, and that the full results from the Stanford study are not complete….
The source article goes on to report that other research is on track for other specific symptom issues, e.g., “brainfog” (cf wikipedia) Phase 2 trials with 100 and 300 patients per trial or trial arm; excessive sleepiness and sleep disturbances; and heart rate, breathing, and digestive issues. Research into exercise intolerance has been further delayed because of the risks and confounds poor study design imposes in the presence of post-exertional malaise.
The HHS Office of Long Covid Research is for coordination and gap-identification functions, funded for two full-time employees to work with federal and contractor entities. Roughly 6-15% of Americans have Long Covid at any given moment, currently.
Whether the research projects will offer any insight or treatment potential for other post-acute viral sequelae syndromes or for symptomologically similar disorders — — — e.g., Lyme Disease (bacterial, roughly 300,000 new cases per year in the US); fibromyalgia (roughly 2-8% known of the general population, or 2000-8000 per 100,000); chronic fatigue syndrome (roughly 75 cases known per 100,000 US population); functional neurological disorders—(roughly 4 to 40 cases known per 100,000 US population with the military at the high end); etc. — — — remains unclear: translational medical research can be very under-powered when the medical industries see little advantage for themselves in the outcome.
More on the NIH push forward at:
h/t to kosak Joyful575 for the Initial heads-up and first source article.
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