How big a deal is long Covid and can it be treated? Opinions range from it being a serious impediment to the health of millions of those who suffered from Covid-19 to a figment in the imagination of the workshy. A study by the University of Oxford of a drug developed by US Pharmaceutical company Axcella Therapeutics may just help to shed some light. The drug, AXA1125, is designed to boost the performance of mitochondria, which generate energy for our cells and control the amount of inflammation in the body. It is believed that long Covid causes fatigue – among other symptoms – by inhibiting the mitochondria.
While a drug to treat fatigue would be welcome, there is also a potential use for a magnetic resonance test to measure mitochondrial function
A randomised, double-blind trial conducted by Oxford University, and reported in the journal eClinical Medicine, found that patients given the drug reported lower subsequent levels of fatigue than a control group which was given a placebo.
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