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Life Sciences & Medicine Active Updated Aug 1, 2026

Preventing long COVID before it starts

Two separate randomized trials found that drugs already sitting in medicine cabinets, the antiviral Paxlovid and the diabetes drug metformin, can cut the risk of developing long COVID when given during an acute infection. The stakes are whether prevention during the initial infection can sidestep a condition that has proven very hard to treat once it sets in, especially since metformin costs pennies a pill and is already prescribed to millions.

The story so far

  1. Aug 1, 2026 Latest

    Nature reported that Paxlovid cut the risk of developing long COVID within three months by 40 percent when given during acute COVID-19 infection, and metformin cut the six-month risk by around half, though physicians remain split on whether the trial results are strong enough to justify prescribing either drug for this purpose now.

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