We live in an epidemic of chronic diseases, with an increasing number of pesticides, chemicals and food additives involved in the declining health of Americans. Since 2019, another factor has also been at stake: the Sars-Cov-2 virus has led to a huge increase in chronic health consequences, widely called Long covers.
The infection by the COVVI-19 virus is a new variable consecutive in the health of our country which can considerably increase the incidence of serious conditions such as neurological disease,, heart attack And stroke. About 6% of American adults suffer from long covids – at a cost for our economy estimated at 3.7 billions of dollars per year.
Contrary to what is often represented in the media, Long Cavid is not a mystery. There is a simple reason, at least some people can remain sick “after covid”: they always have the Sars -Cov -2 virus – or parts of the virus – in their bodies. For example, a team found that Almost two years after the infection, long patients had not yet eliminated the virus from their intestinal fabric. These persistent viral tanks seem Leak of advanced protein – the part of the virus which gives coronavirus their distinctive appearance of “crown” – in the blood circulation, to potentially cause inflammation of the brain and other organs, and increasing health consequences such as heart disease.
Although the first efforts are underway to help eliminate persistent viral tanks, more well -designed clinical trials are desperately necessary to help millions of people suffering from a long return to normal life. To approach this emergency, we have formed a global consortium scientists to accelerate research, including by publication A recent roadmap to test medications aimed at cleaning the persistent SARS-COV-2. Our proposal is based on successful approaches to cancer research and treatment strategies used against other viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis C; These stories offer lessons on the design of tests, candidates for the drug and how to develop tests for persistent viral tanks.
The most promising trials can also be among the most complex to carry out, as they can combine drugs targeting virus – such as antiviral drugs and monoclonal antibodies – with treatments to activate immune cells. It may also be important to simultaneously solve other problems associated with a long covid, such as changes in immune dysfunction and microbiome.
To add another variable to these complex trials, we do not yet know the duration of treatment that each type of medication may need. For example, current long -term clinical trials are 5 to 15 days of antivirals like Paxlovid. But the treatment of the persistent virus of hepatitis C requires 8 to 12 weeks of antiviral treatment. In cats with feline infectious peritonitis – also caused by a persistent coronavirus – 12 weeks of antiviral treatment are necessary for effective treatment. Such an extensive approach may require meticulous studies to test the safety of potential long, square drugs when administered for longer periods.
All this will be an interdisciplinary global company. But the effort is worth it.
The imminent question is now: who will pay the development of drugs and trials? Large pharmaceutical companies can afford to carry out tests, and they should. But small biotechnology companies do not have the same resources. Already, due to this limitation, several antivirals and monoclonal antibodies with the potential to help long patients are seated on shelves rather than being studied in patients who need more options.
Government and private funding should solve this problem by helping small businesses to direct trials in the start -up phase. These programs, which must be agile and adaptive and continuously integrated with the real experience of patients in their design, are ideal for “high -risk and reward” agencies such as Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which is part of health and human services. It was therefore encouraging to hear Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now secretary for health and social services, Let's say during his recent confirmation audience That he would work with enthusiasm with the congress to direct long funding cocoards towards essential clinical trials.
If public funding supports the development of any new cocovone, the resulting data and therapies should be open source and available for generic manufacturers, which will increase confidence in treatments and benefit patients around the world.
The world was in this position before, facing HIV in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A combination of the rapid government and private financing made several companies more willing to engage in the development of drugs. There are now more than 25 drugs approved for HIV infection. The development of these treatments has transformed HIV from a potentially fatal infection into a manual chronic disease – for those who have access to drugs. In some cases, public support forced pharmaceutical companies that are otherwise competent to work together for greater good.
Lessons learned from the fight against the SARS-COV-2 could also help scientists in battles against other conditions, because Long COVVID is only one of the many chronic pathological states that begin with an infection. Others include chronic or post-processing disease of Lyme, myalgic encephalomyelitis and post -ift fatigue syndrome. Persistent viral infection is also increasingly documented in patients with Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.
Long Cavid’s urgency is a call for weapons for the government and private donors to help provide medicines and protocols to people who need it. In the end, much more could benefit from the acquired knowledge.
Amy D. ProalA microbiologist is founder of the Polybio Research Foundation, a non -profit organism that supports research on the deep cause of chronic diseases. The Foundation of the Chan Soon-Shiong family, led by the owner of the Times, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, is a Polybio research fund.
