Netherlands to lead major study to test existing medications for long Covid treatment

Preparations are underway in the Netherlands for an extensive European study aimed at determining whether existing, readily available, and affordable medications can alleviate symptoms in long Covid patients, NOS reported on Friday. The research will initially focus on commonly used and inexpensive drugs, including those for diabetes.

Currently, there is no known cure for severe long Covid, a chronic condition affecting an estimated 100,000 people in the Netherlands. This illness significantly restricts or in some cases completely impedes normal daily activities.

Patients are already experimenting with medications and treatments originally developed for other medical conditions in an effort to alleviate their symptoms.

"Sometimes you hear that it works and that some people partly recover from it," said Marc Bonten, professor of molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases at UMC Utrecht. "But so far, it has not been scientifically proven to what extent such a drug works or not. The question is also whether it is safe. We want to answer those questions with this project."

The research, coordinated by the research organization Ecraid, is one of the candidates to claim part of the 32 million euros that outgoing Health Minister Ernst Kuipers has allocated specifically for long Covid research in early 2024.

Thanks to early funding from the Long Covid Foundation (Stichting Long Covid), a group formed by long Covid patients to expedite research, two project managers have begun the administrative work necessary for the study. This preparation ensures that clinical trials can start quickly once government research funds become available.

"There's no time to lose," said chairperson Ellen Bark-Lindhout. "Some patients have been homebound for four years. If our contribution can enable the research to start four to six months earlier, that's significant time gained for our community."

The researchers will first examine widely available and inexpensive medicines, and will involve not only Dutch patients but also those from the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy.