Experimental treatment shows promise tackling fatigue from long COVID. Here's how some hope it can help those still suffering.
An early clinical drug trial taking aim at long COVID fatigue has fallen short of a primary objective to restore normal energy-fueling cell function but still provided encouraging evidence that a favorable pathway exists for long haulers.
One of the original focuses of the research conducted by the biotechnology company Axcella was to reinstate the full functional levels of mitochondria -- the powerhouse of the human cell -- in post-COVID patients. While these results were not statistically proven, Axcella's chief medical officer is confident the learnings provide a productive path for long haulers.
"We do believe we are improving mitochondrial function because if we look at the magnetic resonance technique that we were looking at, you can see correlations between the degree of improvement in that measure and the degree of improvement in fatigue," Chief Medical Officer Dr. Margaret Koziel told NBC New York in a recent interview.