Considering that more than a hundred million people around the world are estimated to suffer from Long Covid, the condition’s underlying causes are still not fully understood. Increasing evidence supports the viral reservoir theory but some researchers favor the theories that microscopic blood clots and/or abnormal immune responses are to blame. There are no treatments that have been proven across the board, and the syndrome is keeping millions of people from work, and costing hundreds of millions in lost wages.

In an effort to expedite Long COVID treatment development, billionaire Vitalik Buterin, a crypto mogul and Ethereum co-founder, financially backed a new program called the Long COVID Research Initiative (LCRI) to seek the drivers of the condition. Read more about the LCRI here.

What are the goals of LCRI?

The new initiative involves a collection of top scientists, clinicians, and patients. With an initial investment of $15 million, LCRI’s chief scientific officer Dr. Amy Proal—a microbiologist at the PolyBio Research Foundation—and her team set some important goals to achieve during their research. They include: 

• Investigating the causes of Long COVID, with a focus on determining for certain whether or not the virus persists in the body after the initial infection
• Understanding the effects it has on other areas of the body, including the vascular and immune systems
• Identifying measurable features of Long COVID, which could be used for future studies and would help create much-needed treatments

Future funding and goals

The Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, headed by biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, has committed to additional funding for the project, and other investors are being sought to help advance research and treatments as quickly as possible. 

Henry Scott-Green, a Long COVID sufferer and one of LCRI’s co-founders, believes that LCRI’s structure and funding will help it outpace government-funded research. He adds that, while the group’s research is currently dedicated to Long COVID, he hopes the model can be used to study other chronic, infection-related illnesses going forward. 

*Hart, R. (2022, September 8). Billionaire-Backed Group Steps Up Hunt For Long Covid Treatment. Forbes. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/09/08/billionaire-backed-group-steps-up-hunt-for-long-covid-treatment/?sh=3fda97231b2c