3) The trial also focuses on a very specific subset of ME/CFS patients with elevated antibodies against β2-adrenergic receptors and "a pro-inflammatory immune cell status."
Post-Viral Trials
@postviraltrials.bsky.social
News and information about interventional trials for Long Covid, ME/CFS, POTS, and other post-viral illnesses. Message or tag me if you’re in a trial or otherwise have information to share.
2) Inebilizumab targets the CD19 a marker on B-cells; the immune cells that produce antibodies. Compared to Rituximab (which targets CD20), inebilizumab targets a broader range of B-cell subsets, including early B cells and plasmablasts.
1) 🇩🇪 There's now more info about the PIONEER study which will test inebilizumab (a drug that targets B-cells), in a subgroup of ME/CFS patients. It's a randomised trial at the Charité that aims to include 38 participants.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 105 participants. Long COVID and ME/CFS muscles had impaired mitochondrial energy production and fewer capillaries for their size, unlike 60 days of bed rest. Inactivity alone did not explain this. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Skeletal muscle properties in long COVID and ME/CFS differ from those induced by bed rest - Nature Communications
Low aerobic capacity in patients with long COVID and ME/CFS is often attributed to physical inactivity. The authors show that long COVID and ME/CFS patients have distinct skeletal muscle changes that ...
nature.com
2) The treatment trial is led by Carmen Scheibenbogen and will be a follow-up study to the randomized Phase II trial of the CD19 antibody inebilizumab. Tafasitamab also targets CD19 but is less expensive, so they want to test if this also works in a subgroup of 38 patients.
1) 🇩🇪 The German ME/CFS Research Foundation has supported 7 research projects with a total budget of € 2.4 million. It includes a treatment trial of tafasitamab, which targets B-cells, and a genetic study of families with multiple members affected by ME/CFS A brief overview
If you were a participant in the Vyvgart trial, please email Mackenzie at coreresearch@mountsinai.org to get a free at-home lab kit. Mt. Sinai & Yale are testing against a newly discovered autoimmune biomarker, with the goal of initiating a new FCRN inhibitor trial by year-end!
9) Link to the paper: Acanfora et al. 2026. Vagal cholinergic denervation of the gastric mucosa in Long-COVID-19: in vivo evidence of structural autonomic dysfunction.
Vagal cholinergic denervation of the gastric mucosa in Long-COVID-19: in vivo evidence of structural autonomic dysfunction
Dysautonomia has been increasingly recognized as a key feature of Long-COVID-19, potentially contributing to persistent gastrointestinal and systemic …
sciencedirect.com
1) 🇮🇹 An Italian hospital showed reduced nerves in the gastric lining of Long Covid patients compared to controls. It was a preliminary study though, with only 12 patients and 8 controls.
9) Link to the paper: Efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban, colchicine, and famotidine-loratadine with specialist supportive clinical care for fatigue in patients with post-COVID-19 condition in the UK: a multisite, open-label, randomised controlled trial www.thelancet.com/jo...
2) The graph below shows the main findings. Unfortunately, there wasn't a placebo control group only a group that received no drug, only usual care. The primary outcome was the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS, range: 10-50), with higher scores indicating worse fatigue.
1) 🇬🇧 The results of the big STIMULATE-ICP study are in. It tested three repurposed drugs in hundreds of Long Covid patients: - colchicine: an anti-inflammatory - famotidine and loratadine: antihistamines - rivaroxaban: an anticoagulant Sadly, all three had poor results.
By itself, administered subcutaneously. clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT071...
ClinicalTrials.gov
clinicaltrials.gov
well, it happened: i have now taken cancer drugs (as part of a clinical trial) to see what they do for my long covid.
Geneva University Hospitals, 203 people. Temelimab targeted HERV-W ENV, a proposed immune trigger in Long COVID, but did not improve fatigue, cognition, function, or biomarkers versus placebo after 24 weeks. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Temelimab versus placebo in patients with post-COVID condition
More than 400 million individuals are estimated to have been affected by post-COVID condition or long COVID. This condition can lead to significantly …
sciencedirect.com
Oh no, I spent forever waiting for the video of Dr. Fluge’s daratumumab trial update at the International ME/CFS Conference 2026 to be uploaded, and now it looks like it won’t be at all. Bummer, I was really looking forward to watching that! events.mecfs-research.org/en/events/co...
ME/CFS Research Foundation
events.mecfs-research.org
8 ) More info about the inclusion criteria and how to participate can be found in this article by the ME Association:
Research: Does poor oxygenation and a delay in muscle energy recovery contribute to fatigue and PEM in ME/CFS? Now Recruiting! - The ME Association
The ME Association is pleased to confirm that Stage 1 […]
meassociation.org.uk
1) 🇬🇧 The ME Association is recruiting patients for a study that will test oxygenation and energy recovery in the calf muscles of ME/CFS patients. The study will use non-invasive technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).
New from Spain: Efficacy of Low-Dose Naltrexone in Women With Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A 12-Month Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled...trial onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #LDN #Fibromyalgia #ChronicPain
Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Post-COVID-19 Condition: A Systematic Review and Critical Appraisal of Clinical Evidence www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15... Screenshot from latest Science for ME weekly update #LongCovid #PASC
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Immunoadsorption Versus Sham Treatment for Post-COVID Syndrome: A Randomised Sham-Controlled Crossover Trial
Post-Covid syndrome is a debilitating condition which may be caused and/or aggravated by autoantibodies. The current study aimed to determine whether …
sciencedirect.com
Metformin on the Presence of COVID-19 Symptoms 6 Months after Infection: The ACTIV-6 Randomized Clinical Trial — Bramante et al "Metformin did not exceed the primary outcome threshold for declaring efficacy for reducing PASC." #MECFS
Article Link
dx.doi.org
Did you participate in this Vyvgart clinical trial for #LomgCOVID? If so, Mt. Sinai needs your blood to analyze a potential autoimmune biomarker that might help millions.
18) Overall, this is an impressive, in-depth paper providing evidence for autoimmunity in a subset of LC patients. But a decisive result of identifying a specific antibody that is pathological and causes symptoms, wasn’t achieved (yet).
12) On the hot plate test, the mice that received LC antibodies were faster to withdraw their paws indicating increased pain sensitivity (Figure 6C)
10) The strongest results in the paper are the transfer of antibodies to mice who then developed symptoms such as pain sensitivity. Similar findings have been reported by the groups of Jeroen Den Dunnen, Charles Nicaise and Andreas Goebel.
8) One of the top hits was antibodies against the Mediator Complex Subunit 20 (MED20) which is involved in turning genes on and off. The paper lists findings suggesting these antibodies are pathologic such as reduced IgM/IgG ratio, complement deposition, etc.
1) Impressive paper from Iwasaki’s lab pointing at autoimmunity in a subgroup of Long Covid patients. They replicated previous experiments of antibody transfer causing symptoms in mice. A couple of findings that stand out…
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
A causal link between autoantibodies and neurological symptoms in long COVID
Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers the de novo production of diverse, functional autoantibodies (AABs) that remain elevated in Long COVID (LC), but their pathogenic role remains unclear. Using tissue...
medrxiv.org