New study from UMN researchers points to existing drug as promising treatment for long COVID

Metformin, a drug typically used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, has shown promise as an effective treatment for long COVID, according to a study by University of Minnesota researchers published Thursday in The Lancet. But the researchers warn that more studies are needed before the drug can be prescribed as a treatment for people who currently have the condition.

Long COVID, sometimes called long-haul COVID or post-COVID conditions, can have a number of different symptoms and can last for weeks, months, or even years.

Symptoms range from fatigue to brain fog to heart palpitations, according to centers for disease control and preventionas well as potentially hundreds of other symptoms it can be hard to explain or manage. It’s unclear exactly who will get long COVID, but the chronic illness can affect up to 10% of people who have had the virus, the statement said.

The study, which was carried out as part of the COVID-OUT projectinvestigated whether early treatment with metformin, ivermectin, or fluvoxamine could prevent severe COVID and long COVID.

In placebo-controlled tests, people who received metformin were found to be more than 40% less likely to develop long-lasting COVID, compared to those who received a placebo. And for participants who started taking the drug within the first few days after being symptomatic, it reduced the risk of long COVID by 63%.

“The results of this study are important because a long duration of COVID can have a significant impact on people’s lives,” Dr. Carolyn Bramante, lead researcher and assistant professor at U of M, said in a statement. “Metformin is an inexpensive, safe, and widely available drug, and its use as a preventative could have important public health implications.”

While this research is noteworthy, Bramante cautions that people who currently have long COVID should not take metformin as a potential treatment.

“Although it is a very safe drug with few contraindications, I think we would not want people to take any treatment without knowing if it works or not,” he said. she declared. “Thus, a trial assessing whether or not metformin treats long COVID is an important next step in this body of literature.”

The study was conducted remotely, at the height of the pandemic, to limit the spread of the virus and conserve personal protective equipment, Bramante said. Once someone consented and started the study, the drugs were shipped overnight to their home.

She says one of the challenges in this process was that the science around COVID was developing in real time.

“The electronic health record code for long COVID didn’t even exist until October 2021,” Bramante said. “And even since then, the definitions of long COVID have kept changing. But one of the strengths of our means of assessing long COVID is that we know that a medical professional has assessed other causes of what might be affecting participants, and ruled out that it was anything other than long term after effects of COVID.

The World Health Organization defines long COVID as “the continuation or development of new symptoms three months after initial infection with SARS-CoV-2, such symptoms lasting at least two months without further explanation”.

According to the statement, metformin was believed to be effective against the virus by a simulator, developed by faculty at the U of M’s School of Medicine and the university’s biomedical engineering department.

Bramante said the model showed that “metformin shuts down a protein that the virus uses to replicate.”

Ivermectin and fluvoxamine did not prevent the long COVID, the statement said.