A groundbreaking new drug developed here in Australia could revolutionise the treatment of long COVID, offering hope for both preventing infection and alleviating the long-term effects of the disease.
The drug called NACE2i was developed by Brisbane’s QIMR Berghofer medical research institute, and is showing promising results in preclinical studies. NACE2i is effectively stopping the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and protecting against reinfection.
The results of the research has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Professor Sudha Rao, an epigeneticist and co-lead author of the study, expressed excitement at the results, saying: “We believe it could be a highly promising adjuvant to boost the effectiveness of existing vaccines.”
A significant discovery made during the study is the identification of the pathway through which the virus induces persistent inflammation, leading to the organ damage commonly seen in long COVID.
NACE2i has shown the ability to prevent this inflammation and even repair damaged lung tissue in preclinical models. This breakthrough makes NACE2i both a preventive measure and a potential treatment for long COVID, offering relief from debilitating symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness, and brain fog.
Long COVID is estimated to affect between 10-20 per cent of individuals who have contracted COVID-19, posing a significant global health burden. Many long COVID sufferers find their everyday functioning severely affected, with some unable to work or carry out basic household tasks.
The first major study conducted by the QIMR Berghofer team in 2021 revealed that the SARS-CoV-2 virus hijacks the ACE2 receptor on the surface of cells, enabling it to replicate. NACE2i works by reprogramming the hijacked ACE2 receptor, effectively disarming the virus and preventing its replication.
The reprogrammed ACE2 receptor is then returned to the cell surface, acting as a lock that prevents the virus from entering the cell. This process also reverses the inflammation caused by COVID-19 in the lungs.
Dr Wen Juan Tu, another co-lead author of the study, expressed excitement over images showing NACE2i repairing damaged lung tissue in preclinical models.
“The images are really remarkable,” he says.
“In the damaged lung, you see it is missing the surface layer of the lung bronchiole area. After treatment with NACE2i, the lung is restored to normal function with a healthy surface layer.”
In addition to the development of NACE2i, the researchers have also created a biomarker blood test capable of detecting the presence of the protective ACE2 receptor layer around cells.
Testing this biomarker in human blood samples revealed its absence in patients who experienced repeated COVID-19 infections. However, administering NACE2i restored the biomarker, indicating the potential for long-term protection.
With the potential to protect against infection and alleviate the debilitating effects of long COVID, NACE2i offers hope for millions of individuals worldwide.
Have you had long COVID? How long did it hang around? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: Long COVID and its devastating symptoms
Way too premature to be reporting on this. It shows ‘promise’ in a petri dish on hamster lung cells. No where near ready for clinical trials never mind being made available for current long COVID sufferers.
“NACE2i is effectively stopping the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and protecting against reinfection.”
It seems to me that you don’t need a degree in molecular biology to sense that stopping replication is the opposite mode of action to that of the covid vaccines?
Covid vaccines were designed to create massive replication of the spike protein of the covid virus by turning your cells into “spike protein-producing factories”. Think about all that spike protein being churned out for days or longer, in much larger quantities than from a natural infection.
So shouldn’t it rather be called “Long COVID-vaccination” syndrome?
This is a short video you may find surprising.
https://rumble.com/v2u32z2-what-will-make-the-sceptic-look-a-bit-deeper-into-australias-covid-19-vacci.html