Neither Metformin Nor Ursodeoxycholic Acid Effective for Treating Long COVID

WEDNESDAY, March 4, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (PASC), neither metformin nor ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) improves symptoms compared with placebo, according to a study published online March 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.So Yun Lim, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues examined the efficacy of metformin and UDCA for improving PASC symptoms in adults in a randomized clinical trial. A total of 396 adults with a PASC index score of 12 or greater were randomly assigned to oral metformin (uptitrated to 1,500 mg/day), UDCA (900 mg once daily), or double placebo for 14 days (132, 132, and 132 participants).The researchers found that the mean interval was 9.8 months from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The mean PASC score was 19.3 at baseline. Recovery occurred in 63.6, 68.2, and 68.2 percent with metformin, UDCA, and placebo, respectively. From baseline to week 8, the mean changes in PASC scores were −10.05, −10.62, and −10.43 with metformin, UDCA, and placebo, respectively."This randomized clinical trial did not show a statistically significant improvement in recovery with metformin or UDCA among patients with long COVID," the authors write. "Our hypothesis-generating trial showed that immune dysregulation was correlated with the improvement of long COVID symptoms, warranting further trials to provide a rationale for developing targeted drugs against immune dysregulation in long COVID pathophysiology."Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Neither Metformin Nor Ursodeoxycholic Acid Effective for Treating Long COVID

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