Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jul 09, 2026 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
Medical News: Large UK Trial Finds Only Modest Short-Term Benefits
A major UK clinical trial has found that two commonly used medications—colchicine and a combination of famotidine with loratadine—provided only small, temporary improvements in fatigue among people living with long COVID. However, the benefits disappeared after treatment ended, suggesting these drugs are unlikely to provide a lasting solution on their own.
A major UK clinical trial found colchicine and antihistamines offered only modest, short-lived relief from long COVID fatigue while specialist care remained the biggest contributor to improvement
The research was conducted by the STIMULATE-ICP consortium, led by researchers from the Institute of Health Informatics, University College London (UCL), working with specialists across 12 National Health Service (NHS) Long COVID clinics in the United Kingdom.
Testing Three Different Drug Approaches
Long COVID continues to affect millions of people worldwide, with overwhelming fatigue being one of the most disabling symptoms. Despite years of research, there are still no approved drug treatments that consistently relieve this exhaustion.
The researchers enrolled 778 adults who had long COVID but had never been hospitalized during their original COVID-19 infection. Participants were randomly assigned to receive colchicine, rivaroxaban, a combination of famotidine and loratadine, or standard specialist care without any of the trial medications for 12 weeks.
The average participant was 46 years old, nearly two-thirds were women, and most had been living with long COVID for more than two years. At the beginning of the study, fatigue levels were severe, with many also experiencing brain fog, pain, poor sleep, breathlessness, dizziness and repeated symptom flare-ups.
Small Improvements but No Lasting Effect
Across every study group, fatigue improved during the first 12 weeks, even among those who received no trial medication. This indicates that ongoing specialist care, rehabilitation advice, pacing strategies and regular clinical follow-up may themselves play an important role in recovery.
After adjusting for differences between participants, those taking colchicine or the famotidine-loratadine combination experienced a slightly greater reduction in fatigue than those receiving standard care alone. The improvement, however, was modest—about 1.5 additional points on the Fatigue Assessment Scale—and was statistically significant but relatively small.
Rivaroxaban, a blood-thinning medication, failed to show a meaningful benefit compared with standard care.
This
Medical News report highlights that the encouraging early improvements did not last. Twelve weeks after the medications had been stopped, fatigue scores were virtually identical across all groups, showing that none of the treatments produced durable symptom relief.
Safety Res
ults Offer Reassurance
The medications were generally well tolerated. Most reported side effects were mild or moderate. Colchicine users most commonly experienced stomach and digestive problems, while minor bleeding events occurred more frequently among people taking rivaroxaban. Serious adverse events were uncommon, affecting only about 1% of participants, and investigators concluded these hospitalizations were unrelated to the study drugs.
Researchers Call for Better Targeted Treatments
Rather than ruling out drug therapy altogether, the investigators believe future research should focus on identifying specific long COVID subgroups that may respond better to targeted medicines or combination treatments. They also suggest that combining medications with structured rehabilitation and specialist clinical care could prove more effective than relying on a single drug.
Conclusion
The findings show that while colchicine and the famotidine-loratadine combination may offer a small short-term reduction in long COVID fatigue, the improvements fade after treatment stops. The study reinforces that specialist supportive care remains essential and that future research should prioritize personalized treatment strategies and combination therapies capable of delivering meaningful, long-lasting symptom relief.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1473309926002422
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