The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai's David Putrino worked through his holiday last Christmas to write a grant application for Long Covid research. As Long Covid emerged as a major public health problem, he hoped to get more funding for the National Institute of Health. The grant applications were due in January. The agency said it would make decisions by the end of the month.
Putrino was still waiting to hear if the National Institute of Health would fund his effort to find out if microclots could be a useful diagnostic tool. Putrino thinks that they should hire people who are dedicated to speeding up the programs. There is a national crisis. This isn't deserving of being someone's second or third job. We need full attention from the National Institute of Health.
There are other complaints about the management of Long Covid research by the National Institute of Health. The observational study of up to 40,000 people has come under fire from patient advocates and some scientists who say it lacks transparency and is moving too slowly. As of June 6th, the study had signed up 3712 adults, or 21% of the total. Ninety-eight children are taking part in a study that aims to enroll 19,500 of them.
Critics say that other countries have been quicker to react. The United Kingdom funded a number of Long Covid research projects. An independent review published by the Rockefeller Foundation found that, as of February, just eight of 200 Long Covid trials listed in the U.S. ClinicalTrials.gov database had been funded by the National Institute of Health.
The National Institute of Health acknowledges the criticisms and says it has already committed to spending more than $1 billion over the next four years. Walter Koroshetz, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and a co-chair of the RECOVER initiative, implied in a talk to a panel of advisers that the project is not fast enough. He told the advisers that he couldn't believe what they'd seen. Recover is designed to not leave any stone unturned for what may be causing this trouble.
The winners of the January funding are expected to be announced within two weeks. The agency says it has devoted multiple staff to RECOVER, and that it is supported by other experts and the outside firm. According to recent estimates, one in five survivors is afflicted with the condition.
ReCOVER wants to discover the biological roots of Long Covid and describe its prevalence, risk factors, and symptoms. Clinical trials of treatments and preventives are expected to be launched by fall.
The University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson is a principal investigator for a RECOVER arm. In part because Long Covid comes in so many flavors, it has been a nightmare to run.
A year ago, the New York University's (NYU's) Grossman School of Medicine received a huge chunk of its Long Covid funding. RECOVER investigators were not allowed to respond to written questions about the study.
Extramural scientists who aren't involved in RECOVER are looking for other ways to fund their research. A battery of tests on cognitive function in people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome were being run by Michael Van Elzakker at Massachusetts General Hospital. He says that he has a lot of neuroimaging that is suitable for Long Covid people. He relies on charitable donations because there is not a way to apply for Long Covid funding. When he applied for a neuroscience grant, he worried that his proposal wouldn't fare well with someone with a model of amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Some people complain about the opaqueness of theNIH. The RECOVER website doesn't list award amounts to institutions that are subcontracted through NYU. "I wish there was more transparency regarding instruments, enroll, data, and where and when the money has been invested and what it has yielded so far." Rockefeller co-authored a policy brief that criticized the Long Covid response. The reporter is a public database that contains grant funding and other information.
Others are still frustrated by the deadlines. A competition for funding for Long Covid clinical trials was announced on 27 April. The deadline was so short that a prominent immunologist decided not to apply.
The agency is doing everything it can. He says that he has seen a lot of people from the National Institute of Health work very hard.
Mady Hornig is a patient representative in RECOVER and is a doctor at Columbia University. Not to be slowed down by the usualNIH cycle and still allow for high-quality peer review is the goal of the fast fundingturnarounds. She agrees that there have been a fewhiccups when it comes to funding research on this mysterious condition.
According to Koroshetz, the National Institute of Health is doing its job. We hope we can make a difference. The quicker the better.
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