The National Institutes of Health has chosen Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid as the first treatment it will study in patients who experience prolonged symptoms of COVID-19, known as “long COVID,” under its RECOVER Initiative tasked with looking into the causes of the largely unexplained medical condition.
The trial, which will start next year, will investigate whether portions of the COVID-19 virus remain in the body after infection, causing the long-lasting symptoms associated with long COVID that are wide-ranging, including cognitive impairment or lethargy.
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The Duke Clinical Research Institute will oversee the trial, which will involve 1,700 patients 18 and up. Experts theorize that antivirals such as Paxlovid might be used to help treat long COVID symptoms and clear the coronavirus from a patient’s system, according to a study description.
Paxlovid, which has been used to treat mild and moderate COVID-19 already, has been named by physicians as a possible drug for treatment, though this will be the first time a study tests it on long COVID patients, per Reuters. The underlying causes of long COVID have mostly remained a mystery to experts.
The NIH maintains a webpage compiling possible symptoms of long COVID, such as swelling in the legs or feet and loss of appetite.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in June that nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States who have had a COVID-19 infection continue to experience lingering symptoms after first contracting the virus.
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The trial is estimated to start on Jan. 17, 2023.
