- The antiviral ensitrelvir was found to prevent COVID-19 in people exposed to COVID-positive individuals. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and included over 2,000 participants who took the treatment pill or a placebo. Researchers found that the drug cut the risk of COVID-19 by two-thirds for household members when taken 72 hours after an infected person in the household developed symptoms. In a news release, a representative of the drugmaker Shiniogi said the antiviral could cut the risk of not just COVID-19, but also acquiring new diseases triggered by COVID-19, including Long COVID. The drug is approved in Japan for post-exposure prophylaxis use, or “PEP”, and is currently being considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- The U.K. government recently announced £4.75 million ($6.4 million USD) in funding for a genomics study of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The research project, Sequence ME, builds upon findings of the Decode ME study that found key genetic differences in people with ME. The new funding will allow researchers to sequence the genomes of 6,000 people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) to generate a “high-resolution genetic map of the illness.” The second phase of funding adds to an initial investment announced earlier this year. “This project will allow us to pinpoint individual genes disrupted in [ME], moving beyond broader chromosomal signals identified to date,” said researcher Chris Ponting.
- A new phase 2 trial studying a compound for Long COVID related tinnitus was recently announced. The pilot study will enroll 20 participants with Long COVID or COVID-19 related vaccine injury in Ithaca, New York, who have not responded to standard tinnitus treatment. Participants will test compounded dimethyl sulfoxide-based ear drops and cream for 30 days. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an experimental solvent that was studied in 1975 for tinnitus in a very small study. This study, which does not have a placebo and will test the safety of the drug, is enrolling by invitation by the telehealth clinic, Leading Edge Clinic.
