A new, privately funded venture announced today it has recruited more than 20 top scientists and is pouring 15 million dollars into Long Covid research, with plans to launch clinical trials of treatments as soon as possible. The goal is to bring in $100 million according to the scientist who spearheaded the Long Covid Research Initiative. Half of the money would be devoted to trials, which have been sparse in the field.
The National Institute of Health's RECOVER initiative has more than $1 billion to fund Long Covid projects. ReCOVER's slow pace and slow recruitment into its current flagship program has come under fire. Proal and others say different, quicker strategies are desperately needed, including more rapid distribution of funds.
E. John Wherry is an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania and has been an adviser on some RECOVER grants. Wherry says that the bonds in an investor's portfolio give you the core of what you need. If you want to make a rapid change or pivot in your investment strategy, bonds aren't the right tool for the job.
The agency said in a statement that the public can only benefit from multiple research efforts.
Several patient advocates with Long Covid and a professional background in technology startup approached Proal, which led to the creation of LCRI. They said they wanted to get better soon. The advocates thought about how to apply their startup mentality to the challenge.
Henry Scott-Green, a Google product manager, says that the problem is larger than the response can handle. He developed Long Covid after contracting COVID 19 in August 2020.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of Americans have contracted the disease. Long Covid patients can experience a number of symptoms in the months after they have been exposed to the coronaviruses. Long Covid clinics have popped up in hospitals around the world, but they have little to offer in terms of proven therapies. There are no easy objective methods to gauge a treatment's performance, so pharmaceutical companies have been hesitant to invest in research on the syndrome.
Long Covid researchers started weekly meetings after talking with the patient advocates. The Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation led by Patrick Soon-Shiong gave 15 million dollars to the project. Proal says more commitments are on the way.
Basic research will get the first fifteen million dollars. The focus will be on whether or not the symptoms of Long Covid patients are caused by the presence of the disease. According to Proal, that's the trend we see the most evidence for, and she hopes multiple projects supported by LCRI can address the question. Infections from autopsies will be looked for in studies. If there is a SARS-CoV-2 spike in the body, researchers will inject antibodies bound to radiotracers that can bind to it and light it up. Immune cell behavior may be related to viral persistence.
It is possible to reduce symptoms if the virus is still in the body. Proal hopes that the collaborative will be able to start clinical trials of such therapies soon. There are measures that will make assessing therapies simpler. Immune signatures or other measures in blood could be included. The group is looking at which drugs to test first.
Several Long Covid trials are expected to be launched this fall that will include treatment for viral persistence. They want to complement each other, not work at cross-purposes, that's what they stress. Most of the people in the collective have a connection to RECOVER, so have an inside track on what's happening He is a member of the RECOVER subcommittee. He says knowing what RECOVER is pursuing and rejecting will be useful. He says that we can chase the things that people say no to.
Wherry is studying how T cell behavior can be used as a proxy for viral persistence. He plans to apply for Long Covid funding but hasn't yet because grant applications are time consuming and often rejected, and there can be a lengthy lag to learn the outcome. He says that the idea is so early that you will have to adjust.
He cares for Long Covid patients and has been critical of RECOVER in the past. He says that we need to work together regardless of what happens.
With reporting by Jocelyn Kaiser.
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