Health
Paxlovid Improved Long Covid Symptoms in Some Patients, Researchers Report
Can Paxlovid treat long Covid? A new report suggests it might help some patients, but which patients might benefit remains unclear.
The report, published Monday in the journal Communications Medicine, describes the cases of 13 long Covid patients who took extended courses of the antiviral drug. Results were decidedly mixed: Nine patients reported some improvement, but only five said it lasted. Four reported no improvement at all.
Perhaps more than anything, the report underscores that nearly five years after the pandemic began, there is still little known about what can help the millions of people with long Covid. While some people improve on their own or with various therapies and medications, no treatment has yet been shown to be widely successful.
“People with long Covid are eager for treatments that can help,” said Alison Cohen, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who is an author of the new report and has long Covid herself. “There’s been a lot of research, but it continues to be slow going.”
Paxlovid, made by Pfizer, is considered a tantalizing prospect because it can prevent severe illness during active Covid infections and because patients who take the five-day course during the infection have been less likely to develop long Covid later.
In addition, a theory that some long Covid cases may be caused by remnants of virus in the body suggests that an antiviral like Paxlovid might vanquish those symptoms by extinguishing lingering virus.
Last year, the first randomized trial of Paxlovid for long Covid showed no benefit. Conducted at Stanford, it involved 155 patients who took the drug or a placebo for 15 days. While taking Paxlovid for that long was found to be safe, it didn’t help patients much: Ten weeks later, the placebo and Paxlovid groups showed no significant difference in severity of long Covid symptoms.
Dr. Upinder Singh, an infectious disease specialist and a leader of that trial, said its results and the new report primarily generated “more questions to answer”: Could Paxlovid help if taken for longer than 15 days or paired with other medications? Does its effect vary by types of symptoms or by when symptoms started?
“It’s very possible that within long Covid, there’s different disease types,” said Dr. Singh, now head of internal medicine at the University of Iowa. Maybe Paxlovid or other antivirals would help patients who could be clearly determined to have lingering virus in their bodies, she said.
Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, said scientists shouldn’t “throw in the towel” on the possibility of antivirals for long Covid.
“If you look in the aggregate, you don’t see a difference between the placebo group, but these case reports demonstrate there are people who truly benefit, so we need to home in on those people,” said Dr. Iwasaki, who is leading another randomized trial of Paxlovid, the results of which have yet to be published.
She said important next steps would be identifying biological markers in people whose long Covid symptoms improved with Paxlovid and seeing whether other antivirals help different patients.
The new report was not a clinical trial, but a collection of self-reports from 13 long Covid patients around the country who had tried extended courses of Paxlovid. It is the first published case series of such patients, according to the authors, who include Dr. Michael Peluso, an infectious disease physician at U.C.S.F., and members of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, a group of researchers who also have long Covid.
The experiences of the patients were too varied to yield a consistent trajectory, but the variety may provide clues for larger studies, the authors said.
The patients, ranging in age from 25 to 55, were infected between March 2020 and December 2022. They experienced one or more of a range of symptoms, including fatigue; gastrointestinal problems; cognitive problems like brain fog; muscle pain; irregular heart rate; and a condition called post-exertional malaise, in which physical or mental exertion causes setbacks.
As with the Stanford trial, most patients in the new report had been vaccinated by the time they took Paxlovid. Their Paxlovid courses ranged from 7.5 days to 30 days. Most tried it to find relief from their persistent long-Covid symptoms; two patients with long Covid received extended courses of Paxlovid when they were reinfected with the virus.
Most patients were also taking other medications or supplements, making it difficult to determine the drug’s specific effect, Dr. Cohen said. Still, some said Paxlovid helped them significantly.
Kate Leslie, 46, a social worker in Boulder, Colo., said she was healthy and athletic before her coronavirus infection in March 2022. Six weeks later, she said, she felt as if she’d had a concussion, struggling to think clearly and find words.
She developed postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, with symptoms including erratic heart rate and blood pressure and occasional fainting. A longtime Ultimate Frisbee player and coach, she began experiencing profound fatigue and could barely lift her arms.
“It was like concrete blocks are on your body,” she said. “I couldn’t get out of bed. My husband had to wash my hair and dry it and dress me.”
After an antiviral she was prescribed for a flu infection, Tamiflu, ended up easing some of her long Covid symptoms, Ms. Leslie wondered whether Covid-related antivirals might help even more, she said. In February 2023, she found a doctor to prescribe a 15-day course of Paxlovid.
Afterward, “I could feel my body getting restabilized,” she said, adding, “I started to get my energy back.”
About six months later, she obtained another 15-day course, which helped again, she said. She estimates she can now function at about 85 percent of her pre-Covid level.
Ms. Leslie said, however, that a couple of her medical issues worsened after Paxlovid, including an immune system condition that has caused allergies. Three other patients also reported bothersome issues after taking Paxlovid, including tingling and gastrointestinal discomfort.
Among those who didn’t perceive any benefit from the drug was Julia Moore Vogel. Dr. Vogel, 39, a senior program director at Scripps Research, was a long-distance runner before being infected with the coronavirus in July 2020. Now she uses a wheelchair and is largely housebound, she said.
She and her daughter recently moved across the country, from California, to live with her parents in Schaghticoke, N.Y. “I got to the point where we were like, I either need to stop working or we need more help at home,” she said.
Dr. Vogel, whose symptoms include fatigue, post-exertional malaise and migraines, took a 10-day course of Paxlovid in April 2023. “It just had no impact for me at all,” she said.
These days, she manages by carefully budgeting her energy, trying to leave the house no more than once a week. Migraine medications provided some relief, she said, but other than that, “I’ve tried many things, and basically nothing has really helped me improve.”
Dr. Cohen said the report strengthens the theory that long Covid has many different causes and treatments.
“A really important question is who may benefit from taking an extended course of Paxlovid and why,” she said, “and if it benefits some symptoms, which symptoms does it benefit?”
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A newly identified muscle protein may help explain why people who stay active as they age often remain stronger and healthier for longer, according to new research.
Scientists found that a protein called NOX4 naturally declines with age and inactivity. As levels dropped, researchers observed signs of frailty, muscle loss, insulin resistance and liver disease in mice.
The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.
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Researchers believe NOX4 helps muscles repair themselves and adapt to the physical demands of exercise.
When NOX4 was removed from the muscles of mice, the animals became weaker, lost muscle mass and developed health problems commonly associated with aging.
Researchers found that declining levels of the muscle protein NOX4 with age and inactivity may contribute to weakness, muscle loss, and other health problems. (iStock)
The researchers also found that exercise helped restore NOX4 levels in older mice.
Josephine Hunt, an educational leader, former group fitness instructor and founder of The Resilience Revolution based in New Jersey, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital that the findings help explain why exercise benefits so many aspects of health.
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“Movement is medicine,” Hunt said.
“The emerging NOX4 research is exciting because it helps explain something exercise scientists have observed for decades. Physical activity does far more than strengthen muscles.”
Researchers think NOX4 plays an important role in helping muscles recover and adjust to the stresses of exercise. (iStock)
Hunt said many people view exercise as a way to improve appearance or fitness, but its effects reach much deeper.
“Exercise appears to activate biological signaling pathways that help the body adapt, repair and become more resilient over time,” she said.
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She said one of the study’s biggest takeaways is that physical activity helps the body maintain its ability to recover from challenges.
“Exercise does not simply help us look younger or stay physically fit,” Hunt said. “It appears to help the body maintain its ability to adapt, repair and respond to stress.”
Experts say one of the study’s key findings is that physical activity helps the body preserve its ability to recover from challenges. (iStock)
Hunt added that healthy aging is about more than simply living longer.
“Healthy aging is not just about adding years to life,” she said. “It is about preserving strength, function, independence, cognitive health and overall quality of life.”
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Researchers stressed that additional studies are needed, but the findings may help explain why regular physical activity remains one of the most effective tools for maintaining health as people age.
The study was conducted in mice, meaning the findings do not necessarily translate directly to humans.
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While the team also examined muscle samples from younger and older men and found similar declines in NOX4, additional research is needed to better understand the protein’s role in human aging.
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Sticking to a resistance or strength training routine for a certain amount of time may extend your life, according to a new study.
Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine analyzed whether workouts involving weightlifting and weight machines are linked to a lower risk of death over time.
The study followed more than 147,000 U.S. adults who participated in three large health studies spanning up to 30 years. More than 35,000 died during the study period.
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Participants reported their exercise habits, including the number of minutes per week spent on resistance training and on aerobic activity, like walking, biking or swimming.
Resistance training levels were then compared with later death from any cause, as well as from cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and neurological disease, according to a press release.
Doing a moderate amount of resistance training was linked with a lower risk of death in a recent study. (iStock)
Doing a moderate amount of resistance training was linked with a lower risk of death, according to study results. This outcome persisted even after researchers adjusted for other factors like age, smoking, diet quality, alcohol intake, family history and aerobic activity.
The clearest benefit was seen at around 90 to 119 minutes per week of resistance training.
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People who stuck to this interval of training per week had a 13% lower risk of all-cause death, 19% lower risk of death from heart disease and 27% lower risk of death from neurological disease.
More than 120 minutes of resistance training per week did not appear to add extra benefit to the overall death risk, according to the findings.
The clearest benefit was seen at around 90 to 119 minutes per week of resistance training. (iStock)
A lower risk of cancer death was seen at even small amounts of resistance training — 30 to 59 minutes per week was associated with a 12% decreased risk.
The lowest overall death risk was found in people who did both higher aerobic activity and moderate to high resistance training.
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The study shows only an association between resistance training and lower death risk, not a direct cause, the researchers noted.
Other limitations were that participants reported their own exercise habits, which may not have been completely accurate, and the study did not measure how intensely they exercised.
30 to 59 minutes per week of strength training was associated with a 12% decreased risk of cancer death.
The authors reflected in the study that engaging in “sufficient aerobic or resistance training alone is linked to lower mortality, with a stronger effect from aerobic activity.”
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The lowest risk was seen among people who did high levels of both aerobic exercise and resistance training. However, for people already doing a very high amount of aerobic exercise (roughly five to six hours of jogging or 11 hours of brisk walking per week), adding resistance training did not appear to lower the risk any further, they noted.
The lowest overall death risk was found in people who did both higher aerobic activity and moderate to high resistance training. (iStock)
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Kenny Santucci, fitness trainer, gym owner and host of the “Strong New York” podcast, shared the importance of pairing general movement with a focus on muscle building.
For a better fitness outcome, Santucci encourages gym-goers to add more strength training to their routines and to lift “a little bit heavier.”
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“Strength training should be the basis of what you do,” he said. “I don’t have anything against cycling … but if you’re telling me that’s the basis of your training, and your goal is aesthetics, then you are not really helping yourself get to that point any easier.”
“Hard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better workout.”
Santucci recommends working at about 60% to 80% of capacity, pushing to a point of fatigue with moderate intensity.
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“There’s a science behind muscle growth, and if there’s no external force pushing against the muscle tissue, and you’re not fueling yourself with protein, then you’re probably not going to build muscle,” he said.
“Hard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better workout … If you’re training at levels of intensity, then you’re reproducing good outcomes.”
Health
AI-designed ‘universal vaccine’ passes first human clinical trial, could prevent future pandemics
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A vaccine created using artificial intelligence that could potentially provide broader protection against multiple coronaviruses and help prepare for future outbreaks has passed its first human clinical trial.
Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Southampton developed a “universal vaccine” designed to protect against multiple Sarbeco coronaviruses, which the university explained in a news release is “the large group of viruses that occur in nature, including SARS-CoV-2, which caused the COVID pandemic.”
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Traditional vaccines must constantly be updated as viruses mutate, and the process is “like a dog chasing its tail,” said University of Southampton professor Saul Faust, the trial’s chief investigator.
“Viruses like Influenza, coronaviruses and the Ebola group are evolving continuously, and by the time vaccines are rolled out, they may be poorly matched — the current ‘reactive’ vaccine system struggles to keep pace,” Faust said.
Researchers have developed a vaccine using AI that has proven to be promising in “future-proofing” people against mutating infections. (iStock)
An antigen is the active ingredient in a vaccine meant to trigger an immune-system response and fight off infection. According to the release, the university scientists logged all the available genetic sequence data for Sarbeco coronaviruses and used AI used to design a “super-antigen” that contains the antigen features “common to this whole group of viruses – including ones that haven’t emerged yet.”
The trial of the vaccine proved safe and triggered an immune response in 39 healthy volunteers, marking “the first time that a vaccine whose active component was designed entirely by computer simulations has been tested in humans,” the release said.
The trial vaccine was administered through a micro-fluid jet that delivers the immunization through the skin using a tiny, high-pressure stream of liquid and does not require a needle. The researchers said this method could make it “faster and easier to carry out in large numbers of people.”
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“This new class of universal vaccines are future-proofed,” Faust said. “They not only protect against many variants simultaneously, but potentially against related viruses that haven’t yet emerged and spilt over to humans. If we can develop and clinically advance this new class of vaccines before a virus outbreak begins, millions of lives could be saved, lockdowns avoided and the economy preserved.”
A new vaccine has been proven safe and capable of triggering immune responses against coronavirus in a limited human trial. (iStock)
Some experts have raised broad concerns about using AI in medicine, primarily when it comes to making clinical decisions, not developing vaccines. Certain groups of people may be underrepresented in the data AI relies on, resulting in biased outcomes, some said.
AI also sometimes produces erroneous information, called “hallucinations,” and determining who is liable for medical failings in such situations is a complex matter.
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Others have expressed concern over patient privacy, as well as the need for human judgment that takes into account the scope of a patient’s health history, rather than a single dataset.
While traditional vaccines are reactive, a new AI-designed vaccine aims to protect against future coronavirus threats. (iStock)
The universal-vaccine researchers said that a larger trial involving “a wider and more diverse population” is needed. They published their findings in Journal of Infection.
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