Key TakeawaysLong COVID currently affects millions of people in the U.S. Symptoms can include brain fog, tremors, sleep disorders, and shortness of breath.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other academic medical centers recently launched clinical trials aimed at finding treatments for long COVID.Researchers think that there may be different causes of long COVID symptoms in different people, which is why they are conducting different clinical trials in many centers around the country.

Key Takeaways

Long COVID currently affects millions of people in the U.S. Symptoms can include brain fog, tremors, sleep disorders, and shortness of breath.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other academic medical centers recently launched clinical trials aimed at finding treatments for long COVID.Researchers think that there may be different causes of long COVID symptoms in different people, which is why they are conducting different clinical trials in many centers around the country.

Several clinical trials around the country are enrolling people with long COVID to see if a multi-week course of the antiviral drug Paxlovid might be effective against the condition.

Now, researchers want to see if the drug has any benefit for long COVID.

“One theory behind what is causing long COVID is that in some people, the virus has never left their body,”Harlan Krumholz, MD, a professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and co-lead investigator on aPaxlovid trial at Yale, told Verywell. “The hope is that giving Paxlovid for longer than the five days—the amount of time the drug is typically given to treat COVID-19—can deactivate the virus.”

One in 13 U.S. adults have long COVID, according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC). While many people get COVID-19 and then recover fully, others develop lingering symptoms—some for a year or longer—which can include fatigue, cognitive and memory issues, shortness of breath, and tremors.

How Do You Know if You Have Long COVID?

There is no current cure nor very effective treatments for the condition, which is why clinical trials are so important.

How Paxlovid Long COVID Trials Will Work

Researchers from the Yale clinical trial will administer a 15-day regimen of Paxlovid to participants with long COVID. Other long COVID clinical trials provide Paxlovid for as long as 25 days. By collecting blood and saliva samples before and after the trial, researchers will be able to examine immune system responses to the medication.

Krumholz said there may only be a small subset of people who benefit, but the study is important to potentially determine exactly those people may be.

Because the known side effects of Paxlovid are fairly mild—including ametallic tasteand upset stomach—it’s considered a safe candidate to test for long COVID.

“I’m not minimizing those effects, but we know what to expect when people take Paxlovid,” Krumholz said.

What Are the Side Effects of Paxlovid?

Because Paxlovid can interact with many medications, including statins and blood thinners, the Yale study is excluding anyone with a potential for a drug interaction.

Jason Gallagher, PharmD, a professor of pharmacology at the Temple University School of Pharmacy, told Verywell other antivirals are in development now that may have even fewer interactions with medications. If Paxlovid is shown to have benefit against long COVID, those antivirals could be tested as long COVID treatment options for those who can’t take Paxlovid.

Who Can Take Paxlovid?

Other Long COVID Trials Underway

Yale, Duke, and Stanford, along with NIH-sponsored centers like UTHealth Houston, are among the academic centers offering Paxlovid trials for long COVID.

In addition to the Paxlovid trials, currentNIH-sponsored long COVID trials include:

While it’s still too early to know how well any of the treatments now being tested will work against long COVID, clinical trials are the best way to try out options that are not yet available.

What This Means For YouLong haulers are not getting left behind. To find information on the long COVID clinical trials, search for “long COVID” or “Paxlovid” on ClinicalTrials.gov, or head to the NIH’sRECOVER trial website.

What This Means For You

Long haulers are not getting left behind. To find information on the long COVID clinical trials, search for “long COVID” or “Paxlovid” on ClinicalTrials.gov, or head to the NIH’sRECOVER trial website.

The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.

1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Najjar-Debbiny R, Gronich N, Weber G, et al.Effectiveness of Paxlovid in reducing severe coronavirus disease 2019 and mortality in high-risk patients.Clin Infect Dis. 2023;76(3):e342-e349. doi:10.1093/cid/ciac443

1 Source

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Najjar-Debbiny R, Gronich N, Weber G, et al.Effectiveness of Paxlovid in reducing severe coronavirus disease 2019 and mortality in high-risk patients.Clin Infect Dis. 2023;76(3):e342-e349. doi:10.1093/cid/ciac443

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Najjar-Debbiny R, Gronich N, Weber G, et al.Effectiveness of Paxlovid in reducing severe coronavirus disease 2019 and mortality in high-risk patients.Clin Infect Dis. 2023;76(3):e342-e349. doi:10.1093/cid/ciac443

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