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Life Sciences & Medicine Active Updated Sep 2, 2026

Can long COVID be treated or prevented?

Treating and preventing long COVID

Where it stands as of Sep 4, 2026

Two randomized trials found drugs already in medicine cabinets can cut the odds of developing long COVID when given during the acute infection: Paxlovid by 40 percent within three months, metformin by around half at six months. A Brazilian trial of 399 adults with lasting post-COVID fatigue found fluvoxamine had a high probability of beating placebo. Treating the condition once it has set in still looks hard, and one new study found Paxlovid did not help existing symptoms.

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. Sep 2, 2026 Latest

    STAT reported a new study found Paxlovid did not help long COVID symptoms, an outcome in tension with the earlier finding that it cut long COVID risk by 40 percent when given during acute infection.

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  2. Aug 1, 2026

    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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  3. Jul 19, 2026

    In a placebo-controlled trial of 399 adults in Brazil who had unrelenting post-COVID fatigue for at least 90 days, researchers led by Edward Mills of McMaster University found fluvoxamine, a cheap antidepressant on the market since the 1990s, had a 99 percent probability of beating placebo on fatigue, while metformin was also tested in the same trial.

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