UPDATE: RECOVER Long COVID pathobiology grants restored

This is a developing story. We will update it with further information and comments as they become available.

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Long COVID research grants from the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER program will be restored following news stories about their abrupt cancellations and advocacy to restore the funding, according to patient representatives in the initiative.

The Sick Times and Chemical & Engineering News reported on Thursday that up to 45 grants to study Long COVID’s underlying biology, awarded in 2022 and 2023, had been rescinded, along with upcoming grants focused on studying the disease in children. On Friday, the NIH went back on this order, restoring the funding.

“Good news! Today, the NYU business office received a notice from the NIH Office of Extramural Research stating that funding for Pathobiology awardees (first round) has been fully reinstated,” wrote RECOVER investigator and New York University pediatrician Rachel Gross in an email shared with The Sick Times.

This restoration will allow vital research into the causes for Long COVID symptoms and connections with other chronic diseases to continue. Some scientists had told The Sick Times that their studies were nearing completion and soon to share findings; see our full story from Thursday for more details.

The studies now resuming include research into the pathobiology of Long COVID in children, persistent SARS-CoV-2 viral reservoirs, vascular dysfunction, post-exertional malaise, reactivation of latent viruses like Epstein Barr, and the link between SARS-CoV-2 and diabetes.  

This returned funding is a rare win for Long COVID advocates and researchers amid a climate of fear and uncertainty. Earlier in the week, the Trump administration ordered the closure of the federal government’s Office of Long COVID Research and Practice as part of a wider restructuring of health agencies, and last month, it terminated a federal advisory committee on Long COVID.

Long COVID advocates stepped up to contact their representatives and advocate for RECOVER funding and other federal Long COVID initiatives to remain in place. While the research program’s broader future remains uncertain, these restored grants are a significant milestone, said RECOVER patient representative Megan Fitzgerald.

“This is so significant because it allows critical studies to better understand how Long COVID affects the body, identify treatment targets, and develop new therapies,” she wrote in an email to The Sick Times. “I’m especially relieved as a parent that this reinstates really important funding for studies in kids. And I think we can all breathe a little easier knowing that all the hard work of patients and researchers over the last few years won’t go to waste.”

“Long COVID patients are grateful to bipartisan Congressional leaders Senators [Todd] Young and [Tim] Kaine, HELP Chair [Bill] Cassidy and Ranking Member [Bernie] Sanders for responding to our community’s urgent call to preserve these critical NIH RECOVER grants,” said Meighan Stone, executive director of the advocacy group Long COVID Campaign, in an email.

Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles Griffis contributed reporting.

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