- A large study in Nature Genetics found a genetic risk factor for developing Long COVID. Researchers studied genetics data from 6,450 participants with Long COVID and over a million population controls across 16 countries, leading to the discovery that a variant near the FOXP4 gene increased the risk of the disease by about 60%. Results from 24 different study groups independently identified this variant, which suggests lung function may play a part in Long COVID. “While this gene variant significantly increases risk, it’s important to recognize it as just one part of a much larger puzzle,” one of the researchers said in a press release.
- Leading Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) researchers have pushed back against an op-ed commissioned by the BMJ that spread false claims about ME. Some experts have called the op-ed “biased” and “propaganda.” Ignoring the pathobiology of ME, the authors claimed that people with ME could recover by “reframing beliefs about illness” and undergoing cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), even though many international clinical guidelines advise against it as a treatment for the disease. The op-ed led to rapid responses from numerous scientists, clinicians, and patient-advocates, including one led by David Putrino and supported by over 80 other experts. “We do agree with Miller et al on one point: people living with severe ME/CFS deserve to have hope. But hope will come from effective therapies backed by robust clinical research, not opinions,” they wrote.
- RECOVER-Treating Long COVID (TLC), the clinical trials initiative from the National Institutes of Health’s flagship Long COVID research program, shared updates about forthcoming trials in a recent issue of the initiative’s newsletter. RECOVER-TLC will begin the “in-depth process of planning for upcoming clinical trials” in the next few months, including identifying clinical trial sites. While researchers and patient representatives in TLC working groups have reviewed over 150 potential therapeutics, the initiative is still soliciting feedback from the Long COVID community about potential therapeutics to trial in a survey.
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