Weight loss drug Zepbound is being tested as a treatment for long Covid

Amazing obesity medicines Wegoffy and Zibond It already shows that it can reduce the risks Cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease In addition to helping people lose weight. Now, a nationwide trial will test whether tirzpatide, the active ingredient in Zibbond, may be an effective treatment for people with long-term diseases. Coronavirus disease.

Part of a class of medications known as GLP-1sTirzepatide acts on receptors in the gut and brain to regulate appetite. As a result, people lose weight by eating less. But low body weight does not fully explain the positive effects on the heart and kidneys. Growing evidence suggests that medications have Broad anti-inflammatory effect On the body – an important mechanism for treating long-term Covid.

as far as 20 million people in the United States I had long Covid, a chronic condition that lasts for at least three months after the initial infection. While more than 200 symptoms of long Covid have been documented, some of the most common symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, brain fog, fatigue, mood changes, difficulty sleeping and body aches.

Scientists still don’t fully understand how and why long Covid occurs, but they have found persistent inflammation in many patients. This chronic inflammation may be caused by traces of the virus lingering in the body or misdirected antibodies, known as autoantibodies, that attack a person’s cells and tissues. The hope is that tirizipatide can reduce this inflammation to improve patients’ symptoms.

“The rationale for GLP-1 is its powerful anti-inflammatory properties at the body and brain levels,” says Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Translational Research Institute, based in La Jolla, California, who is sponsoring the trial.

Researchers at Scripps are enlistment 1,000 people across the country are 18 or older and have medical documentation for long Covid. Unlike most medical studies, which typically require multiple in-person visits, Scripps’ experiment is completely remote. Participants will be randomized to receive either tirzepatide or a placebo by mail and will take it for a year. They will receive a fitness tracker so researchers can measure their step count, an important indicator of fatigue. Participants will also receive a smart scale and will be weighed regularly. Since GLP-1s are used for weight management, study researchers want to make sure participants don’t lose too much weight during the trial.

Julia Moore Vogel, the trial’s principal investigator who herself had long-term COVID, says the trial’s remote design was intentional. “For the long Covid population, this is critical, because if you’re asking people to come into the clinic, you’re systematically excluding the people who are hardest hit and who remain homebound or bedridden. It was really important for us to make sure those people were included.”