New Drug To Treat Long COVID-19 Symptoms

German doctors believe an experimental heart drug may help treat long Covid, after a 59-year-old man's symptoms fade within hours.

Doctors at Erlangen Eye Clinic in Germany experimented with the drug BC 007 originally designed to fight heart failure which is also used to treat glaucoma.

‘German doctors discover an experimental heart drug BC 007 to treat long COVID-19 symptoms.’

The drug, developed by German firm Berlin can be used in fighting off long Covid symptoms as it neutralizes auto-antibodies that cause trouble in coronavirus survivors with persistent symptoms.

A 59-year-old patient suffering from glaucoma and long-COVID symptom was treated with drug BC 007 through a single dose infusion.

"His sense of taste and difficulty concentrating "disappeared", his auto-antibody levels dropped, and the blood flow to his eyes "improved significantly". Even within a few hours, an improvement became apparent", said Dr Bettina Hohberger, who treated the patient.

The experts will now use the drug in wider trials to determine its effectiveness.

Researchers at the Max Planck Centre for Physics and Medicine in Germany identified changes to the shape of blood cells in people with long COVID-19 symptoms. This gives an intuition that blood flow problems are the root cause of the long COVID-19 mystery.

They also claim that the virus changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells so it will be difficult to get oxygen and nutrients around the body.

All factors make them believe that the disruption to oxygen flow is the root cause of the common symptoms the long COVID-19 patients experience such as breathing issues, tiredness and headaches.



Source: Medindia