Yong, Shin Jie, Halim, Alice, Halim, Michael et al. · Expert opinion on investigational drugs · 2023 · DOI
Researchers reviewed drug treatments being tested for long-COVID in clinical trials to see which ones might actually work. They found that most experimental drugs don't look very promising, but a few stand out: rintatolimod appears most helpful for people with ME/CFS symptoms, while other drugs like LTY-100 and Treamid might help with lung problems from long-COVID. Currently, there is no proven treatment for long-COVID, so finding effective options is urgent.
This review is crucial for ME/CFS patients because it identifies which experimental drugs currently in trials might actually be effective, providing evidence-based hope during a period when no standard treatments exist. For researchers, it synthesizes the global landscape of long-COVID drug development and highlights critical gaps, informing future research priorities and funding decisions. The identification of rintatolimod as the most promising candidate for ME/CFS-like symptoms is particularly significant given the overlap between these conditions.
This systematic review does not prove that any of these drugs are effective—it only evaluates the potential and design of trials, not actual patient outcomes. The findings are preliminary and based on pre-clinical data and early-stage trials rather than large completed studies with confirmed efficacy. The review also cannot establish which subtypes of long-COVID are most common or how to best match patients to specific treatments.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Yong, Shin Jie, Halim, Alice, Halim, Michael, Ming, Long Chiau, Goh, Khang Wen, Alfaresi, Mubarak, et al. (2023). Experimental drugs in randomized controlled trials for long-COVID: what's in the pipeline? A systematic and critical review.. Expert opinion on investigational drugs. https://doi.org/10.1080/13543784.2023.2242773
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-yong-2023-experimental-drugs,
author = {Yong, Shin Jie and Halim, Alice and Halim, Michael and Ming, Long Chiau and Goh, Khang Wen and Alfaresi, Mubarak and AlShehail, Bashayer M and Al Fares, Mona A and Alissa, Mohammed and Sulaiman, Tarek and Alsalem, Zainab and Alwashmi, Ameen S S and Khamis, Faryal and Al Kaabi, Nawal A and Albayat, Hawra and Alsheheri, Ahmed and Garout, Mohammed and Alsalman, Jameela and Alfaraj, Amal H and Alhajri, Mashael and Dhama, Kuldeep and Alburaiky, Lamees M and Alsanad, Ahlam H and AlShurbaji, Abdelmunim T and Rabaan, Ali A},
title = {Experimental drugs in randomized controlled trials for long-COVID: what's in the pipeline? A systematic and critical review.},
journal = {Expert opinion on investigational drugs},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1080/13543784.2023.2242773},
note = {PubMed: 37534972},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/yong-2023-experimental-drugs},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/yong-2023-experimental-drugs
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